England One-day international captain Eoin Morgan said Monday the side had "fallen behind by a long way" in limited overs cricket, but was confident they would improve in their upcoming series with New Zealand. Morgan's men face the World Cup finalists in the first of five one-dayers at Edgbaston on Tuesday. England failed to beat a single Test nation at this year's World Cup as they suffered a first-round exit which included an eight-wicket thrashing by New Zealand in Wellington.
An antiquated approach, where 300 was regarded as a par score, was labelled "prehistoric" by former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood, still the only Englishman to skipper the side to a global limited overs trophy - the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean. However, England head into the New Zealand series with a new-look side featuring several big-hitters in Alex Hales, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes. And left-handed batsman Morgan was confident England could make up the ground in 50-over cricket, telling a press conference at Edgbaston on Monday: "We want to be unclouded in the way that we play and put opposition sides under pressure as much as we can.
"For a long time now, we've been behind the eight-ball in one-day cricket and we've fallen behind by a long way, and it's time for a catch-up," the former Ireland international added "It still might take a little bit of time but certainly I can get my views across, things can be a lot clearer and I'll certainly be involved in selection so I've got the squad that I've wanted.
"We struggled throughout the World Cup...simply because we didn't perform well enough. "The guys we have brought in do something different and we want that to continue," Morgan said of a squad featuring Northamptonshire all-rounder David Willey and Durham paceman Mark Wood, who made his Test debut during the recent 1-1 series with New Zealand.
"If they play as well as they have done in county cricket things will be very exciting." New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, whose dashing 25-ball 77 propelled his side to an overwhelming victory with 226 deliveries to spare when the teams last met in one-day action at the World Cup, agreed with Morgan's assessment of England's revamped squad. "It's obviously a little bit raw but it's full of talented players and guys who are pretty aggressive with both bat and ball," McCullum said. "They look like a team that is wanting to play some aggressive cricket."
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