Eoin Morgan suggests England will make changes for fifth ODI against Sri Lanka
"We have played some good cricket and the series that probably stand out are India in particular, Australia and New Zealand away. But we haven't played great cricket so far in this tour."
Saturday 20 October 2018 15:08, UK
Eoin Morgan has suggested England will make changes for the final ODI against Sri Lanka having wrapped up the series with a game to spare.
England's 18-run, DLS victory in Saturday's fourth fixture secured a ninth bilateral ODI series win on the spin and perhaps boosted the chances of Mark Wood, Liam Plunkett, Sam Curran and Joe Denly - unused by the tourists so far - of getting a game in Colombo on Tuesday.
However, with rain impacting on each of the tourists' matches so far, Morgan also wants to ensure some key members of his side, such as vice-captain Jos Buttler, get further game time.
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"I think there's an opportunity to make some changes, particularly the guys who haven't played yet," said Morgan, whose side will also play a solitary T20 match against Sri Lanka next Saturday, in Colombo.
"There's guys who have played who haven't really participated yet - Jos has only had one bat - but we have to try and make the most of what is probably a bad situation with the rain."
England are No 1 in the ICC ODI rankings, with their last defeat in a bilateral ODI series coming in India in January 2017.
But Morgan - whose team's run of victories has included winning in Australia and New Zealand - says his side have not been at their best in Sri Lanka, despite the one-sided scoreline.
"It's nice, but I think we have to continue being honest with ourselves," added Morgan, who has scored 195 runs across the first four ODIs of this series, with a best of 92 in the second fixture in Dambulla.
"We have played some good cricket along the way and the series that probably stand out are India in particular, Australia and New Zealand away. But we haven't played great cricket so far in this tour.
"We are quite honest with where we're at and where we need to improve. [Saturday] it was fielding, we were quite rusty, and we maybe could have been more disciplined in the areas that we bowled."
England were set 274 to win the fourth ODI and were 132-2 when the rain caused an early finsh, with Morgan (31), Joe Root (32no), Jason Roy (45) and Alex Hales (12) ensuring they were clear of the DLS total of 114.
However, Root was reprieved on 22 when he whipped a full toss from Dananjaya de Silva to fine leg, with umpire Lyndon Hannibal calling a no-ball as Sri Lanka did not have the mandatory five fielders in the circle.
England would have been level with the DLS score at that point had Sri Lanka bowled a legal delivery.
"Myself and Joe got a couple of boundaries away and we were well ahead of it but it certainly would have brought DLS right up if Joe had been given out," added Morgan. "The umpire called it straight away, I didn't notice it."
Morgan also revealed that England hope to know more on Sunday about the severity of the ankle injury sustained by Jonny Bairstow while playing football in practice on Friday.
Bairstow's knock kept him out of the fourth ODI - Hales stepping in to partner Roy at the top of the order - but Morgan says football will not be axed from training as a result.
Watch the fifth and final ODI, in Colombo, live on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) and Sky Sports Main Event (channel 401) from 9.30am on Tuesday.
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