Cricket-England's red-hot T20 campaign proves white-ball growth - Morgan

By Amlan Chakraborty

DUBAI (Reuters) - England's red-hot form in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup is further evidence of how far their white-ball cricket has grown in the recent years, captain Eoin Morgan said after their eight-wicket romp against Bangladesh on Wednesday.

Four years after a defeat by Bangladesh dumped them out of the 2015 World Cup, England won the 2019 edition of one-day cricket's showpiece tournament for the first time.

They are bidding to become the first team to hold both the 50-overs and the 20-overs World Cup at the same time and are closing on a semi-final slot after their second successive win in the Super 12 stage.

Spinner Moeen Ali and quick Tymal Mills restricted Bangladesh to a below-par total and England rode Jason Roy's breezy fifty to romp home with 5.5 overs to spare.

Asked if the performance of someone like Mills indicated of England's formidable strength in squad, Morgan said: "I think it does.

"I think it's also a huge compliment to how far our white-ball cricket in general has come along.

"Quite a big squad of players have been part of the 2019 success in ODI cricket. And I think that's lent itself to the T20 game as well.

"Yes, they have been sort of fighting for places but they haven't been too far away at any given stage."

Several captains have said teams dominating the powerplay overs would have an edge and Morgan said opener Roy would be crucial to England's hopes of making the most of those six overs.

"The way he plays, Jason is so imposing and when you play like that on slow wickets, it makes it difficult to set fields," Morgan added.

England face Ashes rivals Australia in their next Group I match in Dubai on Saturday.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Dubai; editing by Christian Radnedge)