Men’s ODI WC: Matthew Mott denies Eoin Morgan’s suggestion over rift in England squad

LUCKNOW: England's white-ball head coach Matthew Mott has denied suggestions from Eoin Morgan, the 2019 Men’s ODI World Cup winning captain, over rift in the current squad playing 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, insisting that the group is a tight-knit unit.

Ahead of their match against India at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, Morgan had said to Sky Sports that "something else (is) going on … there has to be," pointing towards the unrest in the England dressing room being one of the main causes of their listless performance in the competition.

After England lost to India by 100 runs on Sunday, Mott turned down former captain Morgan’s suggestions about disquiet in the England camp. “Eoin’s entitled to his opinion. He's obviously been away for a couple of weeks with the birth of his child. He hasn't been in and around the rooms.”

“But I'll certainly take that up with him and have a chat to him. We've got a really good relationship with him. So, if he's seeing something that I'm not, I'll definitely have that conversation,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Asked if something was amiss in the England dressing room after the loss to India has seen them be at the bottom of the points table, Mott said, “No, not really. I don't think that at all. I think anyone that's inside our tent at the moment would say that despite our results, we're an incredibly tight-knit unit.”

“I said to the boys the other day, Dave Humphries, who's a former rugby international, was flabbergasted just how tight the unit was when he came in for a week to observe us, given that the results that we've had. So, there's every opportunity when you're losing - to splinter and go separate ways.”

“I can only say from my opinion the group's been incredibly strong in that part. If you see our training sessions, they're full of fun. People are putting their arm around each other, trying to help them. It's easy to do that when you're winning. It's a lot harder when you're losing. I'm proud that we keep trying to get up.”

Coming to the match, there was a glimmer of hope for England to end their losing run in the World Cup after it had limited India to 229/9. But any hopes of a victory which would revive their campaign were quickly ended by a relentless Indian bowling attack, as they skittled England for just 129, something which Mott termed as ‘very painful’.

“To be honest I was really pleased at the halfway mark. I thought it was definitely our best bowling and fielding effort. We went out to bat with a lot of positivity about it being a very achievable total. There was a lot of dew out there as well. So, I thought, particularly after the start, we got none for 30 that we're well placed. But anytime you lose four for ten you put yourself under pressure and chase and it unravelled again from there unfortunately.”

Though Mott appreciated India’s bowlers for keeping England under pressure, Mott was quick to point out that Joe Root’s wicket, where he was trapped lbw by Jasprit Bumrah, was an unfair blow from which the side never recovered. There was a spike on UltraEdge when Root went for the review, but interestingly the spike was also in the frame before ball had passed the bat, with source of it not clear.

“I wasn't sure about Joe's (Root) one, how pretty clear on the technology there was a little spike there, so I'm not sure why we didn't use that. But then it happened bang, bang and we're under pressure and they bowled extremely well.”

“They were in their home conditions they did well and I think probably deserve a lot of credit the way they managed through that dew as well. I thought we tried to hold on and get some partnerships together but we just kept losing a wicket every time we looked like getting a bit of a foundation – so, disappointing.”

With the 2025 Champions Trophy qualification format featuring the top seven teams along with host Pakistan playing in the competition, England are staring at a prospect of missing the event if they don’t win two of their next three games, with Mott getting to know about the cut-off about half an hour ago.

“It gives us a lot of focus that we need to make sure we can't you know just turn up. We've got to turn up and play and win those games. We're obviously up against some good teams in those last few games as well. So, that's plenty of motivation for us to pick ourselves back up off the canvas and keep trying to throw punches,” he concluded.