Morgan focuses on positives after defeat

Cricket365
February 26, 2016

England ODI skipper Eoin Morgan felt his side should have won the fourth match against South Africa at the Wanderers, but was not overly upset as he had confidence England would be able to win the decider in Cape Town.

South Africa won by one wicket in a thriller in Johannesburg to level the series at two all, having been two nil down. They needed a middling 263 to win, and only a Chris Morris cameo at the death saw them reach the target.

Morgan, who made just two runs himself, was pleased with Joe Root's century, and said there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

Morgan said on Sky Sports: "I think at the halfway stage it was probably South Africa's game to lose after we fell about 30-40 runs short.

"Joe Root played magnificently well again, which is great to see, his run of form has been magnificent for the side.

"We managed to peg it back with some fantastic bowling, we managed to get the ball moving around, create a bit of pressure and continue to take wickets.

"Having lost a game like this where we could have clinched the series is disappointing, but to see the fight in the guys tonight, having not batted as well as we'd like to do, is a really positive sign for us."

The skipper added that England were bound to fall sort of 300 runs at some point, purely due to the law of averages, given their excellent run of form with the bat in recent months.

He said: "I'm surprised that it's taken this long to fall this short.

"We've scored 300 a lot of the time, we've scored 400 once, and we're encouraging guys to come out, even today when the wicket's a little bit trickier, and express themselves.

"I'm glad that they did, and again the experience of Joe Root coming through and scoring a magnificent hundred was brilliant."