Morgan credits batsmen for taking responsibility

There is a lot of expectations riding on the England team as they bid to lift the 2017 Champions Trophy on home soil and they started off with a clinical performance against Bangladesh in the tournament opener, beating the Tigers by eight wickets with 16 balls to spare. Joe Root smashed an unbeaten hundred, Alex Hales added 95 while skipper Eoin Morgan remained unbeaten on 75 to guide the home side to their destination after Bangladesh posted 305 runs for the loss of six wickets in 50 overs. Following the end of the game, Morgan praised the batsmen for taking up the responsibility while chasing a big total and said they were always looking to put up partnerships in order to overhaul the target. “At the halfway mark, we spoke about putting a couple of partnerships together or one guy going on and getting a big score. Obviously we did that pretty well [Thursday]. Obviously Alex continued his form. Joe was unbelievable as usual. And it was nice for me to get some runs as well,” Morgan told the media during the post-match press conference at Kennington Oval. Root hurt his ankle while batting and will undergo a scan later Thursday but Morgan informed he is confident that the top-order batsman will recover before the next game. The Ireland-born English captain said they were looking to cut down as many runs as possible when Tamim Iqbal was approaching his hundred. He added that restricting the Tigers around the 300-run mark was key in the context of the game. “Yeah, I think two things. Obviously when you have an in-batsman in, it can be very destructive, particularly at that period, when he's obviously 80, or goes on and get a hundred and passed then. But I thought our bowlers did really well managing his strike rate and then taking two wickets on the bounce. I thought he (Liam Plunkett) did a great job,” Morgan explained. Morgan went on to predict that high totals will be the trend of the Champions Trophy this year and said his side have prepared accordingly. “I think the early start will contribute to that. If you look at the last Champions Trophy, that was a big factor, as well. So we're looking to bowl first, because with a 10:30 start, I think if you play at grounds like Trent Bridge and Edgbaston and they were afternoon games, I think the sides would look to post a score,” Morgan added.