World Cup: Eoin Morgan needs more time as England captain, says Jacques Kallis
Skipper will 'thrive under pressure' if England keep faith
Friday 13 March 2015 16:58, UK
Jacques Kallis told The Verdict that Eoin Morgan should only be judged as England captain when he has had ample opportunity to prepare for a tournament.
Morgan has revealed his desire to carry on as England skipper, despite his side being dumped out the World Cup in the group stages after failing to beat a Test-playing nation.
The 28-year-old - who averaged just 18 with the bat down under - only took charge of the ODI team in December following the axing of Alastair Cook.
He’s one of the top players in England but you shouldn’t be getting to know a coach a couple of months before a World Cup.
And Kallis believes that gave Morgan insufficient time to stamp his imprint on the squad and concoct plans with coach Peter Moores.
"I know Eoin didn't have the greatest of World Cups but in the little bit of time I've spent with him, he does seem like the character that will thrive with the extra pressure," said South Africa legend Kallis, who has played with Morgan in the IPL and Big Bash League.
"He's one of the top players in England and I've no doubt he's going to be successful going forward but you shouldn't be getting to know a coach a couple of months before a World Cup.
"As a captain, you don't really know how the coach does things because you haven't had direct contact with him, while your players don't know how you’re going to run the side."
Aggressive
England struggled to pocket wickets at the World Cup with Steven Finn (8) taking the most for his team despite sitting out the final two games, against Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Morgan's side often adopted a policy of bowling short and were subsequently cracked for over 300 by Australia and New Zealand and for 125 in 12.2 overs by New Zealand.
Kallis says that demonstrates the need to mix up your methods in white-ball cricket and also possess seamers capable of bowling in excess of 90 miles per hour.
"You cannot be predictable in modern one-day cricket," said Kallis, who took 273 wickets for the Proteas in his 238 matches.
"You used to be able to bowl back of a length on or just outside off stump and wait for mistakes but that has gone out of the window.
"You have to have multiple slower balls and try to out-guess the batter as well as adopt aggressive fields so that if he does mishit you can get him out.
"But you also need pace to knock batsmen over as if you land the ball on an area at 75-80 miles per hour you are in trouble."
Fortunate
Andrew Strauss and Nasser Hussain are among the pundits to have had their say on how England rectify their woes in 50-over cricket, with the side failing to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup since finishing runner-up in to Pakistan in 1992.
Kallis has his thoughts, too, and believes getting more of their players to taste the IPL and treating the limited-overs game with as much importance as the Test arena are two key starting points.
"We are fortunate in my country that Cricket South Africa don’t play international cricket at IPL time so our players are exposed to Twenty20 cricket and improve their games.
"Plus, we take one-day cricket very seriously, see it on a par with Test cricket and put as much practice into both.
"We want to win every game that we play and every player wants to win Man of the Match and lead their team to victory."
