Former England captain Eoin Morgan has slammed the current set-up, describing it as a “sinking ship” after fielding coach Carl Hopkinson was sent out to face the media prior to the World Cup clash with the Netherlands.
England’s defence of the trophy they won in 2019 has been nothing short of woeful, and they went into today’s game having won just one of their seven games in India.
The pre-match news conference is normally attended by a senior coach or player, so Hopkinson’s appearance raised eyebrows and didn’t sit well with Morgan.
He told Sky Sports: “I was very surprised and a little bit shocked by it. When things are going wrong, you need absolute clarity and direction.
“You have to front up and in certain instances, you can look at it and say ‘are they shirking responsibility?’
“At the moment it’s a sinking ship and you need people to take responsibility. Take responsibility for your actions, that is just part and parcel of the job.
“It very much surprised me seeing Carl Hopkinson being rolled out yesterday. If it was Ben Stokes or Joe Root, a senior voice in the changing room, you would say ‘right, this is the message in the changing room, this is how it’s going to work’.
“But you very rarely would send out an assistant coach to give a strong message when the team needs it.”
Morgan last week described suggestions he was keen to take over from current white-ball coach Matthew Mott as “far-fetched”.
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