Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers’ Association
Eoin Morgan has vowed England will approach their final game of the Super 12s like every other at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 so far – with victory the only priority.
With four wins from four, England go into the contest at the summit of Group 1 as the only team with a perfect record and in prime position to take their place in the semi-finals.
South Africa are currently third in the group, trailing Australia on net run rate, and will be keeping a close eye on what happens earlier in the day between Australia and the West Indies in Abu Dhabi.
But Morgan insists England are not concerning themselves with worrying about permutations, with their only focus in Sharjah on completing a clean sweep in the Super 12s.
“We’re going into the game wanting to win,” he said.
“Given some of the situations we’ve been through in the past, we know how difficult it is to win a World Cup game itself without adding different permutations throughout the course of that.
“We’ve watched teams throughout this World Cup not even being in the contest at some stages, so we know how difficult it is to get in that contest and then to try and go and do what your team needs to try and win the game.”
England were given their sternest test to date last time out against Sri Lanka before winning by 26 runs and Morgan said he is proud of his team’s desire to keep getting better.
“I think our win at Sharjah was as tough a win as we’ve ever had as a T20 group, so the satisfaction within that was significant,” added the 35-year-old skipper.
“I take huge pride in leading the team. One of the things that makes me extremely proud is that regardless of how well or how poorly we’ve done, guys have always wanted to get better.
“They’re not really that interested in standing still or spending too much time reflecting on what has been and gone. They want to continue to get better.
“They know that once you lose that drive in trying to achieve things individually and as a team, it has a big repercussion effect on the wider game and throughout our country.”
For South Africa, the match-up with England will be do-or-die and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma expects his players to leave everything out on the field.
“I think first of all, in the context of the event that we’re at, tomorrow is obviously a big game. Some have even called it as almost our quarter-final,” he said.
“So I think from that point of view and looking at our expectations as a team coming to this event, we want to play our best cricket tomorrow.
“We obviously understand with Australia currently No. 2 in our group, with their superior run rate, there’s not much we can do from that point of view.
“I think the first point when we go out would be to win the game. Obviously, the team has gone through a lot over the last while, players, members of management.
“I think we’ve learnt a lot about each other. We’ve grown a lot as a team in finding ways to get through all the tough times that we’ve gone through collectively.
“I think every game we only speak about going out and fighting it out as a team. We don’t leave it to individuals. We don’t rely on individual brilliance to bring it home for the team.
“It’s all about us as a team giving everything that we want. It won’t be any different. We’ll still be showing the same character, the same fight that we’ve shown while in this tournament.”
