Morgan reflects on trend-setting chase

When England chased down 305 to defeat Bangladesh at The Oval, it was not only the best possible start for the hosts, but also the biggest run chase in Champions Trophy history.

“The lesson from today is that 300 is not enough,” said Tamim Iqbal, with a wry smile, after his 128 against England in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 opener went in vain.

What is enough?

“I don't know. Whatever we score, if we don't bowl to our plans, even 400 is not enough.”

Tamim might just have spoken on behalf of most oppositions that have faced England in recent times. Bangladesh did well to post 305 for 6, but not for the first time in the last two years, it was razed down with ease.

It’s clear that such targets don’t scare England anymore. It was evident in the way the three stars of England’s chase at the Oval on Thursday – Joe Root (133*), Alex Hales (95) and Eoin Morgan (75*) – went about their business with such confidence.

They carried the same tempo off the field as well while addressing the media after the game. Morgan predicted that such chases would be the norm for the rest of the tournament. Hales said 300 was ‘easy’ sometimes on such pitches. Root said he didn’t know what rattled England’s batting unit.

“I think it will (set a trend),” said Morgan. “But not just because of the pitches. I think the early start will contribute to that. If you look at the last Champions Trophy, that was a big factor as well. We're looking to bowl first because with a 10:30 (local) start, I think if you play at grounds like Trent Bridge and Edgbaston and they were afternoon games, sides would look to post a score.”

Hales gave some insights into England’s mindset while approaching such scores, saying it would have played with the same fearless mindset even if the opposition had scored 350.

“Sometimes it’s easy, but sometimes it’s not,” said Hales, oozing confidence. “On a ground like this where there’s traditionally a very flat wicket and a quick outfield, the games we've played in the past we’ve been looking at 340-350 as a par score.

“We knew at the half-way stage that 305 was 30-40 runs short. We knew if we batted 50 overs, we would win the game. (Even if it was 350) we would stay with the same mindset. We'll give ourselves a chance and probably attack a little bit more than what we did. If you add 40 runs, you have to take more risks in the middle, that's something we back ourselves to do.”

But for all the batting heroics, it was the bowlers who set up the victory. Bangladesh looked all set for a score around 330 but Liam Plunkett dismissed the well set Tamim and Mushfiqur Rahim off successive balls in the 45th over, helping England restrict Bangladesh to 305.

It was particularly impressive since it had to do so without Chris Woakes, who walked off with a side strain after bowling just two overs and was subsequently ruled out of the tournament.

“He's obviously been very impressive for us over the last couple of years, and a mainstay, a very reliable guy,” said Morgan. “And it is a worry when he goes off the field and can't come back on and bowl. He's going to have a scan tonight and we should have the results either late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

“He would definitely be a loss if he couldn't play. But some of the guys today picked up the load pretty well. You know, when one of your main bowlers can only bowl two overs, it's asking a lot of the rest of the team to be able to stem the flow. At one stage, Bangladesh looked like they were getting 330, and to peg it back from there I thought was a credit to them. They adapted to the longer boundary pretty well, and to wicket -- it was a really good wicket to bat on. I thought they did well.”

Apart from the injury to Woakes, England might have some minor concerns in the batting unit as well. Root was limping towards the latter half of his knock with a troubled calf.

Morgan, though, hoped Root would be fine before England’s next game, against New Zealand.

“Joe is all right. He wasn't in extreme pain,” said Morgan. “It was manageable, so given that we have four days between now and the next game, hopefully he'll rest up well and be fully fit.”

The other worry for England is Jason Roy’s poor form, but as he did on the eve of the game, Morgan stressed that Roy would be Hales’ partner for the rest of the tournament.

“I thought he was terribly unlucky today,” said Morgan. “It was quite smart and brave bowling - slower bowl from the opening bowler. It was a big gamble. But that sort of stuff can happen. You can get out in that sort of fashion when you're short on runs. But yeah, certainly we believe in him.

“With the batting, obviously the freedom is backed up by selection. You can't ask guys to go out and play positive cricket and whack it everywhere. There's an element, a high-risk element; and then drop them as soon as they are lacking runs. In previous teams, that has happened and we don't want it to happen. We want to reinforce confidence so the guys can go out and we can make 300, an easy score to get by playing real positive cricket. And contributing to that, both as a captain and coach, and selectors, by backing your own players up.”