Cricket World Cup 2019: Eoin Morgan defends decision to leave out Joe Denly and David Willey in England’s World Cup squad

Morgan is optimistic ahead of World Cup 2019 saying that their preparation has been excellent.

England on Tuesday announced their final squad for the forthcoming ICC World Cup 2019 that featured Jofra Archer and Liam Dawson. Joe Denly and David Willey were the ones who had to face the consequences of their inclusion as they were missed out after being named in England’s provisional World Cup team.

England skipper Eoin Morgan stated that ruling Denly and Willey out from the final World Cup squad was his ‘toughest decision ever’ but at the same time backed it by calling it a ‘right call’.

“It was the toughest decision I’ve ever been a part of, certainly with this group. To leave two guys out, one who has been around for the last four years and been a big part of everything we’ve done on and off the field, and the other is an exceptionally talented cricketer. It’s unfortunate for those who missed out, but it was the right call,” Morgan told ESPNCricinfo on Wednesday.

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Also, James Vince has found a spot in the squad replacing Alex Hales. Besides having an edge of playing at home, England have one of the balanced and strong teams.

Recently, they vanquished Pakistan by claiming four victories in the five-match ODI series after the first match got abandoned due to rain. Interestingly, in all the four matches the English side was able to put up a 300-plus score on the board.

And it seems the victory in the series has boosted Morgan’s confidence as he called their performance ‘extremely encouraging’.

“Our preparation against Pakistan was as good as anything we could have hoped for. To perform like we did is extremely encouraging,” Morgan said.

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England were eliminated in the group stage in the previous edition of the premier tournament. However, Morgan is optimistic ahead of World Cup 2019 saying that their preparation has been excellent.

“For me as a captain, being more experienced, and having been through four years of being captain, our prep and planning has been excellent, and the guys have responded to that by performing on a consistent basis, probably more so for last two years than first two,” he said.

England will compete with South Africa in the opening match of this World Cup on May 30.