Eoin Morgan wary of ‘young, hungry’ Australia

Eoin Morgan has cautioned his England side to expect a “young, hungry” Australia to come at them in the limited-overs series between the teams in June.

Australia’s tour of England for five one-day internationals and a one-off Twenty20 International will be their first series after the ball tampering scandal in March. The new captain and coach combination of Tim Paine and Justin Langer will be leading a young, inexperienced side.

Apart from the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner, they will also be missing their first-choice pace attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood through injury.

Morgan, however, believes recent events will have galvanised the Australians.

“I think they will, with one eye on the World Cup, they will come with a strong performance,” the England captain told reporters. He was speaking at an event in London on Wednesday 30 May to mark a year until the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales.

“What’s happened to them in the last six months has the potential to galvanise a young, hungry side.

“So we’re going to have bring our ‘A’ game to this series. And again it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”

Before the Australia games, England have a one-off ODI against Scotland on 10 June. Morgan, whose broken finger ruled out his participation in the landmark Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge at Lord’s on Thursday, was relieved that his recovery was on course for him to lead his team in the June ODIs.

“It’s a week to 10 days to get the swelling down in the finger and then protect it as we go on. So it’s a relief that I’ll be ready, yes.”