England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan said that it is “laughable” to use The Hundred as an excuse for the Joe Root-led England cricket team’s abject surrender to Australia in the recent Ashes 2021-22.
England failed to win a single match on the Australia tour, with the hosts winning four of the five-match Test series to retain the Ashes urn at home. The fourth match of the Ashes series was only drawn and the defeat led to a lot of criticism of the England team and management and their structure.
Amidst the heavy criticism, Morgan has stressed that Test cricket has “always been the priority”, but said that those who think England have lost the Ashes series in Australia because of The Hundred, then those people are better off not watching cricket.
Morgan told 'talkSPORT': “People that use that as an excuse don't watch cricket. Test match cricket has always been the priority - it's the format for our elite players. Obviously, times at the moment have been tough down in Australia during the Ashes but they always are. We've lost the last two series 4-0.”
Recently, Root has called for changes in the domestic structure to fit in more red-ball matches at the height of summer when The Hundred, ECB’s 100-ball cricket tournament, takes place in the UK.
Reacting to the same, Morgan said: “It's laughable to point the finger at The Hundred. The Hundred is an unbelievable success. Our formats in county cricket and the Hundred, in the way they're structured, are exactly the same as Australia's.”
The 2019 World Cup-winning captain further insisted that the domestic structure in England is similar to that of Australia. He continued, “People need something to blame so they'll point at probably the furthest point to reality because nobody wants to say, 'You know what, we've not had the prep we'd have liked, we probably haven't played as we'd have liked, and we've lost.' That happens in all formats, but I stress Test match cricket has always been the priority.”
It has been claimed that Morgan has been given a full-strength team over the past two years to prepare for the T20 World Cup, but the captain said that he often does not get a full-strength team too.
The skipper further explained, “As a white-ball group, we've gone on tours and played in series at home where we haven't had our full-strength side available - that's been a constant theme for a number of years now. Obviously, Test matches take priority and always do. 95 percent of the time was spent around planning and prep for Test match cricket and then when we got to a World Cup, it was like, 'Well, if we do well, great, but if we don't, it's fine'.”
Morgan signed off by saying, “With the skill level that guys are producing now on a consistent basis, proven over a long period of time, we're considered one of the best in the world. Trust me, I'd much rather be considered that than an afterthought.”
(With PTI Inputs)
