England captain Eoin Morgan eyes impact from newcomers in ODI series against the Netherlands

June 16, 2022

Eoin Morgan is excited to see what England's newcomers can do if they get an opportunity in the one-day international series against the Netherlands.

Uncapped left-arm seamers David Payne - who was included in last year's squad for the ODI series against Pakistan and toured the West Indies with the T20 team earlier this year but did not play in either - and Luke Wood are both among the 14-strong squad for the three-match series.

England's bowling ranks have been hit by a variety of injuries recently, but skipper Morgan is hoping Lancashire bowler Wood and Gloucestershire's Payne will be able to make the most of any chance they get to play.

"With the injuries we've had in our bowling contingent over the last couple of months it has really hit us hard," Morgan said ahead of Friday's series opener in Amstelveen, which is live on Sky Sports.

"But that also presents opportunities for other guys and everybody here has played a role in some way or another.

"Luke Wood is joining the squad for the first time, David Payne in a similar instance but his second tour having been in the West Indies, so it's great to have those guys around the group."

The matches in the Netherlands mark the first time Cricket World Cup holders England have been together for a 50-over series since defeating Pakistan 3-0 at home last summer and is the first opportunity new white-ball head coach Matthew Mott will have to see his team in action.

Even with the likes of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood sidelined from their pace attack, the tourists are heavy favourites to overcome the Dutch team, who only have Essex's Shane Snater and Kent's Fred Klaassen to call on of their players contracted to English county teams.

Nevertheless, Morgan knows from experience what can happen if England take the Netherlands lightly at the VRA Club ground, having played in the T20 defeats to them in 2009 and 2014.

"They're extremely competitive," Morgan said. "In the first one at Lord's in mine and Adil Rashid's T20 debuts, we didn't deserve to win that game.

"We didn't play well enough and we weren't calm under pressure. The following game was a completely different set of circumstances with a completely different team.

"The challenge while we're here is for us a new group of cricketers coming to the Netherlands, playing against a strong, competitive side, is to produce something close to where we would like to be."

Watch England's first ODI in the Netherlands live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9.50am on Friday.

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