England must adapt, says skipper Morgan

England face a new examination of their adaptability en route to the Champions Trophy on their tour of the West Indies.

England face an examination of their adaptability en route to the Champions Trophy on their dog-leg tour of the West Indies.

Eoin Morgan, who confirmed on the eve of the opening one-day international in Antigua that fast bowler Steven Finn will play his first white-ball match for his country since September 2015.

He anticipates conditions will compromise the commitment England's batsman have made to all-out attack.

Slower Caribbean pitches may spell a lull in their glut of seven totals of 350 or more since the last World Cup two years ago.

It is a factor which is unlikely to prove relevant preparation for this summer's Champions Trophy in England, against opponents who have not even qualified for that tournament and have not won an ODI series since 2014.

Anything but victory over the next seven days would be a major jolt to England's global aspirations and for that reason Morgan knows they must tailor their game plan successfully.

"We want to try to adapt to conditions as well as we can," he told the BBC's Test Match Special.

"The way we play, positively and aggressively, isn't exactly easy to adapt to West Indian conditions.

"You come across a lot of slow, turning wickets so adapting our formula to the conditions here is another thing we really want to get out of this series.

"Again, it's another challenge and one we hope we can come out on the right side of."

England's expectations in India proved to be slightly awry last month, when there was more pace in the ODI and Twenty20 pitches on which they lost successive series 2-1.

Morgan added: "I think the wickets will be a little bit more challenging here (than in India).

"The wickets there were batter-friendly, a lot more so than we thought they were going to be."

Injuries have forced England into some late selection contingencies and it seems the key positions previously undecided for Friday's first match of three will fall to Sam Billings - to open alongside Jason Roy - and Finn to take the new ball with Chris Woakes.

Jake Ball has not sufficiently recovered from the knee problem he encountered in the second warm-up match in St Kitts.

His replacement Tom Curran will not be asked to play so soon after his arrival on Thursday after his arrival from the England Lions' tour of Sri Lanka, and record-breaking opener Alex Hales must continue his rehabilitation after breaking his hand in India.


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Source: AAP



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