England captain says he and Buttler ‘had nowhere to go’Morgan believes team have learned from fightback in SharjahIn the immediate aftermath of a gruelling but ultimately thrilling victory over Sri Lanka on Monday, Eoin Morgan was – as he had for so long earlier that evening – restraining himself, refusing to let circumstance and emotion carry him away. The match may have ended for
England in a joyful clatter of wickets and the increasingly familiar taste of success, but Morgan’s mind was stuck on the period between him arriving at the crease with his team’s innings still young and hitting his first boundary, eight overs that rank among the most awkward of his career.
![Eoin Morgan’s belief boosted by reaction to ‘shocking’ spell against Sri Lanka](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0a1650d64547430615664c3da827c5568ef82ebc/0_108_4246_2549/master/4246.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=e559189e6dd1015271d1c729ba359f66)
“Jos [Buttler] and I talked about it being as hard as we’d faced just to get the ball away, never mind looking for boundaries,” he said. “A normal risk-taking shot would have been sweeps, but we didn’t feel sweeps were on with the guys they were bowling and the way the wicket didn’t really bounce at that time. We’re thankful that we just hung in and trusted in our experience. Even really quiet overs, shocking really, but we had nowhere to go, literally nothing to do, and it was better than just slogging it up in the air.”