Captain Morgan hopes to find form after Cook match ban

Eoin Morgan made England's captain for the fourth one-day international in Colombo.

England head Peter Moores has accepted the one-match ban on Alastair Cook and installed Eoin Morgan as England's captain for the fourth one-day international in Colombo. It will be Morgan's eighth match as captain.

"It is sort of non-pleadable," Moores said of Cook's ban. "It is what it is. The umpires and the refs are sensible about it pretty much. It was tight and we went over [the time limit] so we take it on the chin.

"The one bonus is that it cleans the slate so you don't go into the World Cup with it. So it is a bit like bookings in football - once you've actually been banned then you go back to square one again, which is a nicer place to be but still frustrating for him."

But however well Morgan fares tomorrow, even if he can inspire his team to level the series at 2-2, Cook will resume the one-day captaincy, in spite of the widespread protests.

"We've just won a game and he [Cook] played well, to be fair," Moores said. "It was a shame he couldn't manage to go on because he was timing the ball beautifully and it was a great opening stand.

"To be 80 off 12 is a really good position and it was nice to see. I thought Alastair played really well and scored at a good rate."

Subcontinental captains have been dilatory in the field but seldom English ones: at home they operate in cooler climes, and usually England have more experienced bowlers who know their minds and fields.

"We've had our issues with it in the past and it is something we've got to tidy up," Moores admitted. "You want thinking time on your way back to your mark and I don't think people should associate it with bowlers being lazy or anything like that.

"Normally it is because they are over-thinking it. They get back to their mark and think, what am I going to do? Sometimes just going without over-thinking it is a good thing, just bowl.

"It will be interesting to see how he [Morgan] goes in the next game as captain. Maybe that will be a nice chance for him to take the focus off himself and just go and play. He got runs in the T20 team as captain [71 against India at Edgbaston] and that gave him a bit of a boost, but knowing the player Eoin is, he is getting stuck in, and with four games to go he might catch fire and end up as the top run-scorer in the series.

"He had a fantastic series in Australia and since then he has had a dip. You can go in and out of form, but the frustration for him will be how he has got out and trying to put that right. You've got to believe in yourself and give yourself a chance to play, and maybe the captaincy will be a healthy distraction for him."

England, under Moores to date, have won an ODI against Scotland, then lost 3-2 to Sri Lanka at home and 3-1 to India at home.

Some England supporters might take issue with Moores, however, when he said: "We're trying to find out about players and what we've got on and off the park, so that the decision-making becomes clearer. We've made some bold decisions over the last six months." A remarkable situation when England have fewer than 10 competitive games to play before the World Cup.

What were England doing in May in the one-day series at home to Sri Lanka? That was the time to experiment with Alex Hales as an opener, rather than to play safe with an opening partnership of Cook and Ian Bell.

And because nobody can yet be certain how good Hales is against ODI bowling, valuable time is being spent in finding out now, with Hales out of position at No 3 on Wednesday. Tomorrow at least, while Cook stews, he will open.