Cricket: Morgan rates Black Caps with Australia as toughest challenges

Eoin Morgan.

Battered England captain Eoin Morgan has paid New Zealand a big compliment ahead of their clash in Wellington on Friday.

Thrashed by Australia by 111 runs at the MCG on Saturday, Morgan's troops now decamp across the Tasman and the captain warned things would get no easier for his team.

"We've got a tough challenge," Morgan said. "We said the first two games of the tournament would be the toughest in our group and to come out of those games with results would give us huge confidence. I'm hoping there will be a higher level of skill produced [against New Zealand].

"Our first two games are the toughest," he reiterated. "We'll have to be close to our best as individuals to beat these sides."

While New Zealand travel south to Dunedin for a clash with Scotland, England have all week to stew on a substandard outing.

"The most frustrating thing is we made errors we haven't been making this trip.

"Australia played well but we had the opportunity to take the game to them but we didn't take it."

England's famously acerbic press offered, by their standards, muted dismay at the performance. But the pens are starting to be sharpened for Morgan, who bagged his fourth duck in five innings, including one in an unofficial warm-up match.

"I don't feel too bad over that dismissal," he said. "I toe-ended a pull and I think the ball stuck in the pitch a little. As a rule I am a huge nick-off candidate, I know that, and if that was how I was getting out, then I would be worried."

He was also under scrutiny for his handling of the bowlers in the last 10 overs, which leaked 105 runs. If he didn't know it before, Morgan now understands the scrutiny that comes with leading England.

Expect a reaction of sorts against New Zealand. The likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn are too good to keep going for seven an over, but whether their best is good enough to beat New Zealand at the moment remains to be seen. It seems their captain, at least, has his doubts.

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