England v South Africa: Moeen Ali deserves huge credit, says Eoin Morgan
'If he had a bad day, I'd have no problem picking him again'
Thursday 25 May 2017 13:30, UK
Eoin Morgan has heaped praise on Moeen Ali following his man-of-the-match winning efforts in England's 72-run win over South Africa in the first ODI at Headingley.
Despite Moeen having been left out of the two-match series against Ireland earlier this month, Morgan said he has so much confidence in the guy he would have been happy to pick him again even if he played poorly.
He didn't. Moeen smashed an unbeaten 77 off 51 balls - sharing in a 117-run stand for the seventh wicket with Morgan, who hit his 11th ODI hundred - before taking 2-50 from his nine overs.
"If he didn't get any runs, or had a bad day, I'd have no problem picking him again," Morgan stressed. "I have that much confidence in the guy.
"He has made some huge contributions to us over the years, and the fact he missed the Ireland games but came back in and performed like this sums him up as a character. It's a huge credit to him.
"Batting at No 7 is never easy: you always come in having to get on with the game or assessing the situation. And with the ball I thought he was brilliant."
As for his own performance with the bat - hitting 107 off 93 deliveries, including seven fours and five sixes in England's total of 339-6 - Morgan said it was nice to get a score following a "disappointing" stint in the IPL with the Kings XI Punjab.
"It was very pleasing," said the England skipper. "Not having been quite sure what a good score on that wicket was, with the partnerships we built, we gave ourselves the best opportunity to a good score and beyond.
"I've felt good with the bat for a while - even though I didn't play much in the IPL, which was disappointing - and so to get a score here is a nice feeling."
Taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series which concludes with games on Saturday and Monday over the Bank Holiday weekend, Morgan added he would continue to field his strongest team ahead of the start of the Champions Trophy on June 1.
There are, however, concerns over the fitness of talismanic allrounder Ben Stokes, who left the field briefly with a problem in his knee, but Morgan is hopeful the issue isn't too serious.
"I don't know the latest on Stokes," he added. "But there's no significant swelling to the knee or anything.
"He came back onto the field and was able to bowl, we just didn't need him. Given the stage we got to, I didn't want to risk him. Hopefully a couple more days with ice on it will do him some good.
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"We want to win every game, and so if all our players are fit, we'll put out our strongest team in every game.
"We might look at things ahead of Lord's on Monday, given that there's only one day of travel between the Ageas Bowl and there - maybe a couple of bowlers might need changing.
"But if the guys are fit and raring to go, we want to win as many games as we can."
Join us for live coverage of the second ODI between England and South Africa from 10.30am on Sky Sports 2 this Saturday.
