All-rounder Chris Woakes reckoned that Eoin Morgan played a massive part in turning English cricket around after the 2015 World Cup Down Under. In the mega event seven years ago, the Three Lions were knocked out after losing to Bangladesh in a Pool A match.
The Three Lions were bowled out for 260 in 48.3 while they were chasing 276 to stay alive in the competition. After the World Cup, England adopted an attacking brand of cricket and four years later, they went on to win the tournament at home by beating New Zealand in the final at Lord’s.
The likes of Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and others took the attack to the opposition by playing fearlessly, especially in limited-overs cricket.
“The change came back in 2015. After the 2015 World Cup, we felt we were miles behind some of the other teams playing in that tournament. We got knocked out in the group stage, which was very much a low for England in white-ball cricket.
“Eoin Morgan, Trevor Bayliss and Andrew Strauss had the vision as to where the team needs to move forward, trying to get to a stage where they can compete again,” Woakes was quoted as saying in a video on Pakistan Cricket’s Twitter handle.
“Eoin Morgan was instrumental in that as captain, leading from the front. The change was to be a little more fearless and play a brand of cricket where we test the limits, how high we can get, how aggressive we can be with the bat in particular,” he stated.
The 33-year-old Woakes also said that England changed their approach to bowling by shedding their conservative approach.
“We also didn’t want to be conservative from the bowling point of view, trying to take wickets, trying to be aggressive. 2015-16 was a learning curve as to how we wanted to play our cricket,” Woakes added.
Woakes is currently in Pakistan where England are playing a seven-match T20I series against Babar Azam’s men. The series is locked at 3-3 with the decider to be played on Sunday, October 2 at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
