Published 20:02 IST, December 3rd 2020
'We're definitely going to continue with it':Eoin Morgan on receiving signals from analyst
English skipper Eoin Morgan has defended his team and has said that they will continue to adopt the strategy of receiving signals from the team analyst
English skipper Eoin Morgan has made a bold statement and at the same time, has also defended his team receiving signals from the dressing room to help make better decisions on the field during the dead-rubber third T20I against South Africa in Cape Town on Monday.
It had so happened that while England were fielding in the first innings, the English team's analyst Nathan Leamon was seen sending a piece of coded information to the 2019 World Cup-winning skipper from the dressing room during the course of the game and it was just a matter of time before it went viral.
'There's nothing untoward about it': Eoin Morgan
"There weren't many decisions that varied: I think there were three in the first game, two in the second game, and a couple in the third. It's nice to know that the majority of the decisions that myself, Jos, and the bowlers on the field were making actually replicate what we feel is right in the game. 100 per cent, it's within the spirit of the game. There's nothing untoward about it. It's about maximising the information that we're taking in, and measuring it against things like coaches' recommendations, the data, what's going on. We're definitely going to continue with it, and give it enough of a sample size to see if it makes a difference to, or improves, our decision-making on the field or our performance," said Morgan while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
"Captains are different. You get captains that really enjoy the title, the power, and the accolades that go with it, and then you have other captains that continue to be pushed and want to learn for the benefit of the team. For me, this is a system that we're going to use to try and help myself and the other leaders in the side, to take the emotion of the decision-making on the field and compare that to the hard data that is continuing to feed data into us, and the guys off the field," the English limited-overs skipper further added.
What was the coded information all about?
While it is still unknown what kinds of messages are conveyed via this technique but, what really stood out here is that series of letters and numbers were hung from the balcony of the reigning ODI world champions. The information was a combination of a letter and number i.e. 4E.
It remains to be seen whether England will continue to adopt this strategy in the future especially during the three-match ODI series which will be the second and final leg of their short tour to the 'Rainbow Nation'. With the current top-ranked side registering a 3-0 whitewash in the shortest format, it will be interesting to see whether they will able to repeat the same in the 50-overs format and ensure total dominance in the limited-overs format.
The first ODI will be played at the Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town on Friday.
(With ANI inputs)
Updated 20:02 IST, December 3rd 2020