ENG vs WI | Our execution in the slog overs was nowhere near as good, reckons Eoin Morgan

01/24/2022

Eoin Morgan has said that the team’s execution in the slog overs was nowhere near as good after they won the second T20I against West Indies by 1 run. West Indies almost scripted a heist when they were in need of 61 runs in just three overs and ended up only one run short of the target.

England and West Indies are playing a five match T20I series currently and both teams have won one fixture each. England won the second T20I by one run and they opted to bat first, scoring 171/8 as Jason Roy scored 45 runs from 31 balls, playing a key role. West Indies scored 170/8 in response. The hosts were in need of 61 runs in just three overs. Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein amassed 23 runs in the 18th over by Chris Jordan. The pair also scored 28 runs in the last over.

Slog overs have been a sign of worry for England. In the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2021 New Zealand were in need of 57 runs in four overs against West Indies, but the target was chased with an over to spare. Reflecting on the bowling in slog overs against West Indies, England captain Eoin Morgan has said that the team’s execution in the slog overs was nowhere near as good as the bowlers leaked too many runs.

"Every team in the world is trying to get better at it. It is the hardest job in T20 cricket, death-bowling. Conditions did get a little bit better towards the end - the ball did skid on as opposed to our innings in the first innings - but ultimately, we need to find better ways of going about it. Our execution was nowhere near as good as we would like," Morgan said in the post-match presentation.

Reece Topley bowled wide of off-stump for England mixing the lengths and leaked just eight runs in the penultimate over. He was also the most economical bowler for the team conceding just 18 runs and taking a single wicket. Morgan revealed that the plan was to bowl yorkers and use the long side but the bowlers missed.

"We are, we're just getting it wrong. The majority of our plan today was to bowl yorkers, use the long side, and we missed. That's being brutally honest. The guys are always honest with executing in order to try and move on [and to] identify areas that we can get better - this is definitely one of them,” he explained.

"They're games that you want to play in. Looking back at the build into the World Cup, we didn't play in many tight games to work on our death hitting and our death bowling, so today is a good example of that. The more experience, hopefully, the better we'll get at executing.”

The third T20I of the series will be played on January 26 in Barbados.