T20 World Cup: Morgan lauds bowlers, especially Moeen for win against WI

Dubai: England Captain Eoin Morgan lauded bowlers, especially Moeen Ali for pulling off a massive win against the West Indies in their opening match of the Super 12s round in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup here.

"I think full credit has to go to our bowling unit ... I thought we fielded well. We took all our chances and built pressure and momentum to create the rest of the chances throughout the innings," he said.

England kickstarted their World T20 campaign on a winning note after registering a comprehensive win over defending champions West Indies on Saturday.

English bowlers were all guns blazing as they did not give any chance to West Indies batsmen to settle down. Moeen was awarded player of the match for showcasing his super skills with the ball.

On Moeen's performance, Morgan said the all-rounder was not a regular feature of the team because he had to choose between Sam Curran and Ben Stokes, but in their absence Moeen grabbed the opportunity and delivered the goods against West Indies.

"I thought he summed up the conditions beautifully. He hit his lengths really well. He took chances when he had his matchups right," he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"The reason he hasn't I suppose featured as much as we would have liked. He is down to conditions, you know, a guy in his position I had to chop and change between Sam Curran and Ben Stokes. So, to come in and take his opportunity like he has done, he is full of confidence after his success in IPL. I pray it is going to be a huge contribution hopefully throughout this campaign for us," he said.

On pacer Tymal Mills, Morgan said he is delighted for the big T for making a comeback as he has had an incredibly unfortunate journey throughout his career on fitness terms.

"I have seen his fitness, both in bowling and fielding departments. He looked good in the match which is a huge contribution. So, I am absolutely delighted that not only is he back on the field for us, but also contributing in the manner that we have seen him over the past in his Sussex shirt," he said.

Asked for the reason to push David Malan down the order, Morgan said he sent power hitters up the order to gain on the net run rate, but did not materialise as it was difficult to go after the ball.

"Josh Buttler went - how to run a ball for the whole innings, but it did not work as much as we would have liked, but it definitely would have benefitted our run rate if the strategy had worked," he said. (UNI)