Former England captain Eoin Morgan is of the opinion that the hosts will need a "reasonable crack of the whip" from either skipper Jos Buttler or head coach Matthew Mott in order to refocus ahead of Sunday's T20I decider against South Africa at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton.
A stunning 96 not out from a returning Rilee Rossouw led to South Africa squaring the three-match T20I series at 1-1 with a 58-run win over England in Cardiff on Thursday. It also means that if Buttler needs his first series victory as England's white-ball captain, then he needs for his team to put up a collective performance and emerge victorious over the Proteas in a cracking series decider.
"I think a reasonable crack of the whip from the skipper or the coach or the leadership group is what's needed in order to refocus on what's important to England. They only took three wickets tonight and struggled to make inroads throughout the whole of the innings. 207 is way too much.
"I know South Africa could have got a lot more today but it is way too much on a ground like this. Going to the Ageas Bowl on Sunday, reiterating plans, formulate things that are going to create chances throughout the game to stay in the game for longer," said Morgan after the match.
Opener Jason Roy has been in horrible run of form in white-ball matches of the ongoing home summer, making just 59 runs off 80 balls faced in five T20Is. Morgan had some words of advice for the out-of-form Roy: recall the good things he did in previous years as a T20I opener.
"I'd just remind him of all the good things he's done, to trust himself even more. Every batter in the world goes through patches where you don't hit the ball as sweetly as you like to. It's easy when you score runs to say all the right things and take man of the match, but it's when you're not quite clicking that you have to trust what you do.
"T20 cricket is brutal, it demands you keep taking risks and being brave. He must continue to do that. Jason is such an imposing figure, teams can be scared to bowl to him, so you just have to remind him of that stuff."