Morgan eyes positive start

'Out of sight, out of mind', says Morgan about Kevin Pietersen

16 September 2012 - 08:09pm IST

Batsman Eoin Morgan is hoping England can get off to a good start in their ICC World T20 warm-up programme when they face Australia on Monday in Colombo.

England arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday after completing their domestic season with a T20I victory over South Africa two days’ earlier. Morgan is expecting a tough baptism on the sub-continent.

"It will be a case of getting what we need out of what will be a good, testing game,” said Morgan. “We'd obviously like to be on the winning side. But to come up against a strong team like Australia is going to be a big challenge.”

Australia’s preparations took them the Emirates for ODI and T20I series against Pakistan in conditions similar to those expected in Sri Lanka. Morgan concedes tomorrow’s opponent will have benefited from their time in Dubai but it should not give them a head-start.

"There is a chance of that, especially with them coming off Dubai with similar conditions to out here,” said Morgan.

"But we've just come off the back of a long season, so the position we are in having had plenty of practice we will have as much of an advantage as they will and feel as prepared.”

Morgan believes England will benefit from having a number of younger players in the squad who can bounce off the more experienced campaigners that formed part of the successful ICC World Twenty20 2010 squad.

"Everyone that comes through, you learn a hell of a lot more from,” said Morgan. “You're always a generation behind when you're passing on experience. The way the game's going, people are always bringing in new things. The experience thing is more like talking in team meetings and passing on simple things. I find the hardest thing is keeping things simple. When you go wrong, you can move away from those simple things.”

The left-hander rounded off his press conference by making light of the impact exiled batsman Kevin Pietersen has made on team preparations, evoking Harry Potter’s nemesis in his relaxed answer.

“It's probably out of sight, out of mind,” Morgan explained. No [Kevin Pietersen’s not a banned subject]. It's not like Voldemort. It's all right.”

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