World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan says he’s open to England fielding two teams in different stadiums on the same day if the coronavirus outbreak leads to a shortened international home season. The England Test team, captained by Joe Root, could face either West Indies or Pakistan, both due to arrive for three-match series, while Morgan’s white-ball side faces Australia in 50-over matches, and July’s twenty-20 matches.
“During this extraordinary period, I see every alternative being viable,” England said captain Morgan during a conference call on Wednesday.
“I’ve definitely never done anything like this and I don’t think anybody else has anything like that. I think the extreme complexity of the economic and financial situation for the game is something we have never seen before. “All domestic cricket in England was postponed to 28 May at the earliest, with the West Indies series still scheduled to start on 4 June.
ECB Announces Aid:
Tom Harrison, Chief Executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, announcing an aid package of 61 million pounds ($76 million) on Monday, said that visiting international sides were “very versatile, creative and detailed,” with Morgan suggesting that his teammates would be similar.
“We really want to do as best as we can from the players ‘point of view to try to keep things going,” Morgan said.
“If there is a possibility of playing as much cricket as we can, I’d like to think that every player will be behind it. I certainly am.
“But at the moment obviously times remain unpredictable … Realistically we can’t think about playing when our first game will be, or how many we’ll play before the situation is downgraded from a pandemic. “One consolation to Morgan during the outbreak is that the 33-year-old Dublin-born batsman recently became a father after his wife Tara gave birth to a son, Leo.
“My wife gave birth to our first child three weeks ago so we were preoccupied in taking care of the boy,” Morgan said.
“We have been isolated a bit longer than everyone else, which is very cool.
“We have been given a very strong hand when it comes to issues that are happening right now and have been bunkered away for a while, and have not been under pressure to go out and play cricket, which was really cool.
“It was very fun for us and really exciting time.”