Morgan - Good to be back

Eoin Morgan is looking forward to finally getting his Australia tour underway having watched England's Ashes success from the sidelines.

The 24-year-old was unable to get a look-in for the first 10 weeks of England's trip Down Under as prolific performances with the bat elsewhere - five of his team-mates averaged more than 50 in the 3-1 Test series victory - denied him the chance to make his mark.

Indeed, Morgan's chances have been limited in the tour games - something underlined by the fact that he had faced only 11 balls all tour prior to his appearance in last Wednesday's first Twenty20 match.

Little wonder, then, that he is eagerly anticipating the seven one-day matches against Australia which commence on Sunday.

"It's obviously good to be back on the playing side of things,"Morgan said.

"It has been a long time since I played. I felt rusty at Adelaide, especially starting off, getting back into things.

"Probably you can lose form by over-training and over-thinking things, and veering away from what you're good at.

"I just kept telling myself to give myself plenty more time because coming off that prolonged absence of netting, netting all the time and not having any match practice you feel as if you're still rushing things in the first overs or so."

Immediate

Morgan made an immediate impression when he was finally handed a start, top-scoring in Adelaide with a valuable 43 in a chase that came down to the final ball.

Even so, the Dublin-born left-hander felt he gained more from the 14 he scored in Melbourne on Friday, when England suffered their first defeat in nine T20 matches.

Although they failed to chase a modest target, the slow-turning wicket provided conditions similar to those anticipated for the upcoming World Cup on the sub-continent.

With that end in mind, Morgan thinks he and his team-mates should learn from such situations during the series to come.

"We played on a slow, low wicket that held up for the spinners and wasn't easy to get away at the end,"he said.

"It was similar to Indian wickets, and we can learn from it.

"The only reason we lost was because they played better under the conditions. We can only learn.

"One eye on the World Cup and one eye on this series - it is similar to the summer.

"There we had one eye on the Ashes and one eye on the summer. We're quite used to working towards that and taking things as they come."

He added:"It is a huge series (against Australia). It is going to be quite a long series leading up to the World Cup but I think it will be very good preparation.

"We're quite conscious that the first few games will set the tone for the series, so there's going to be a big emphasis on the first couple of matches.

"We are playing the number one side in the world in their back yard and we will have to play extremely well to beat them."

Should England win the series it would replicate their 1986/87 tour of Australia when they won both the Test and ODI series.

Coolness

Morgan's ability to guide England to victory has been a key to their significant improvement in limited overs cricket during the past 18 months.

Offering coolness under pressure, he has moved up and down the batting order, although he admits that number five is his preferred place.

"It (finishing the innings) is something I've done for a few years now,"he said.

"I've sort of grown into the role of going in in different situations and I like the challenge of it.

"I mean's it's my role to go in where I need to absolutely get on with things or I need to rebuild.

"It's usually one or the other so I'm quite happy to take on that role.

"There's never any panic. We're always building towards something.

"There's always a plan, which is usually to accelerate towards the end of the innings and get the percentage of dot balls down.

"But I actually prefer five. I'm happy to take on that role at five and hopefully it will continue."

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