Eoin Morgan hails England's character after they reach World Twenty20 semi-finals
Sunday 27 March 2016 02:15, UK
Eoin Morgan believes strength of character is carrying England through a dramatic World Twenty20 after his side held their nerve against Sri Lanka to claim a semi-final spot.
England are likely to face New Zealand in the last four after their third win in a row but, like their victories over South Africa and Afghanistan, this one could easily have gone the other way.
Having posted a target of 172 thanks to Jos Buttler (66no) and Jason Roy (42), England reduced their opponents to 15 for four only for Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews to hit a classy half-century that got his side to within a couple of strikes of a shock reversal.
Yet when the game reached its closing moments in Delhi, it was England who showed their steel.
Chris Jordan turned in two brilliant overs at the death, taking three wickets for just 13 runs - with Joe Root taking a stunning catch off Dasun Shanaka that may have been the pivotal contribution.
Sri Lanka still needed 15 off the last over and Ben Stokes was magnificent in the heat of the moment, giving up just four to rubber stamp a 10-run run.
"This gives us a great deal of confidence. I think in three of our wins we've had to show an immense amount of character," he said.
"This was completely different in the way we were way ahead of the game, had them four down quite early and then Angelo got them back into the game.
"It asked a completely different question of us. But we showed quite a lot, both with the bat and the ball. We showed we are capable of playing both smart cricket and aggressive cricket.
"I think we've struggled to do that in the last six to eight months or so and it's an area we are constantly trying to improve, but today went a long way to doing that."
Morgan had no shortage of key moments to reflect on and was keen to spread the praise among all of those who stood tall at vital times.
"They were in the game right until the end so Stokes' last over was as crucial as it gets," he said.
"Rooty's catch gave us a huge lift. Wickets are priceless at that stage of the game and given that it didn't allow the batsmen to cross was an even bigger benefit really.
"As well as Jos' innings I thought Jason was outstanding as well. He showed great composure and when he wanted to take someone down he showed complete commitment.
"We'll take a lot of confidence from the overall performance. We can give it a couple of days to let the dust settle, reflect on what happened and take the absolute beauties into the semi-final."
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