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BIRMINGHAM: Eoin Morgan says England need to adapt better to home conditions but is confident they will not buckle under pressure against India as they scrap to keep their World Cup hopes alive.
England looked set for the semi-finals when they won four of their first five matches but losses to Sri Lanka and Australia opened the door for Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Morgan´s side needs to beat India on Sunday and then get past New Zealand in their final league game to guarantee a place in the final four.
The skipper, speaking on Saturday, said England had regained their focus ahead of the match at Edgbaston and their final game against New Zealand.
“We are handling it well,” he said. “Playing in a home World Cup for your own country is an extremely privileged position to be in. “If we win the two (games), go through to the semi-finals. If we win that, we get through to a World Cup final. There´s still a lot on the line, and we´re really looking forward to it. It is not worth thinking about losing. Mathematically there is still a chance if we lose but we want to win two and tomorrow is a huge priority.”
Morgan said his side, renowned for the power-hitting that took them to the top of the one-day international rankings, needed to be flexible in their approach after poor batting displays against Sri Lanka and Australia.
“I can´t fault the commitment or application that the guys have produced in every single game. Where we´ve let ourselves down as a group is adapting to conditions,” he said.
“It´s been a bigger challenge in this World Cup than previous bilateral series. We´re going to have to adapt to conditions, adapt to playing against a strong side in India.”
“We bat deep. We bat strong,” he added. “We tend to play in high-scoring games. So it´s an area that we´d be more confident playing.”
Morgan said opening batsman Jason Roy is “preparing to play tomorrow” after missing three games, two of which ended in defeats for England.
Roy, who smashed 153 from 121 balls against Bangladesh earlier in the tournament, has been badly missed and Morgan said England were ready to play the batsman even if he was not 100 percent fit.
The captain gave a similar response in relation to Jofra Archer´s availability, with England fretting over an injury to the paceman, who has a side strain.
“Jofra is going to see how it is. It is the same thing he has been playing with the last three games. We will see how he comes through,” Morgan said.
“The exact same rule applies. If it is going to rule him out long-term then we won´t play him. If it risks him short-term, then yes.”