Calm Morgan backs attacking strategy

England captain Eoin Morgan was refusing to get ahead of himself after a dominant display knocked old rivals Australia out of the ICC Champions Trophy in the group stage.

“I think you're getting way ahead of yourself,” he said when asked if England could dominate world cricket. “A start would be winning the semi-final.”

“I said before that beating a side like Australia in a game where we've nothing to gain is a big step forward for us because we beat one of the better sides around the world, and if we're being serious about competing in future tournaments, we need to win games of cricket like this.”

England’s bowlers derailed a threatening Australian innings to keep it to 277-9, then the batsmen recovered from their own early slump of 35-3 to charge most of the way home before rain ended the match early.

“It was important to get some sort of a partnership going and how we were going to negate Australia's bowling,” said Morgan of his own role in the batting recovery. He made 87 before being run out in a mix-up with Ben Stokes, but the attacking all-rounder went on to score a century.

“You know, they bowled really well up front. They asked a lot of questions and then got the ball moving. We felt that, I suppose, the positive way was the best way. And we spoke about how we were going to go about it a little bit differently, but it managed to work. We did it in our own way.”

Just as opposing captain Steve Smith did in his press conference, Morgan had no end of praise for Stokes, who has just come off a tremendous IPL campaign after being sold for £1.7m pounds.

“His potential is through the roof. You know, I think he bowled four overs in his first spell, and then to go back to him at the end with two of the hardest overs to bowl, you know, sums him up. He took it on his shoulders. He did it at the IPL. He did it really well.

“He's always looking to influence the game – bat, ball, or even in the field. Even in the field today at mid-on, he saved a lot of runs where guys nearly nick them in order to gain momentum.

“And then his batting was exceptional. Very calm at the crease, very relaxed. All those games he's played really came to the fore today. He was outstanding.

As much as Morgan wishes to be circumspect, England have certainly looked in ominous form going into the semi-finals. The batting was the exclamation mark today, but it was set up with the ball.

Adil Rashid was exceptional with his leg-spin again, taking 4-41 in a 10-over allotment that didn’t concede a boundary, while Mark Wood grabbed 4 -33 from his 10 overs with 40 dot balls.

“We’ve grown in confidence, certainly with our bowling. Our bowling unit is looking on form. The last two games, we've proved that we can peg sides back regardless of where they're at going into the last 15 overs of the game – which are normally, probably two, three years ago, a bit of a car crash for us. So that's a huge improvement.

“The New Zealand game was a bit dead and buried. The South African game at Southampton was definitely dead and buried. I think the confidence in our bowling line-up is certainly growing.”

The captain had particular praise for the manner in which Rashid had bounced back from recent challenges.

“He had a really tough time in India, and that was highlighted quite a lot… We understand where he's at and where we want him to be at, and then managing that around a difficult period is important because he needs to be in a head space where he can learn from situations like that.

“A lot of people go to India as a spinner and don't come back from it. But from where he was there to where he is now, he’s a completely different bowler because he has learned from playing against some of the best on some of the flattest wickets in the world.

“So when he comes up against a good opposition and there is a bit on offer, he can take advantage of that. Absolutely [Rashid could come back to Test cricket]. There's no reason why he can't.”