Morgan is left disappointed as England hopes hit for six in Twenty20 warm-up

After losing their recent series 2-1 in the West Indies, England were outclassed in a seven-wicket defeat to the same opponents in yesterday’s World Twenty20 warm-up in Fatullah.

They managed only one maximum in a modest total of 131-7, Morgan clearing the ropes in the 16th over off Marlon Samuels.

That effort was put in the shade by the West Indies as they breezed past their target with 23 balls remaining, hitting five sixes along the way.

Morgan’s 43 not out was England’s top score by a distance, while Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 58 and Dwayne Smith’s fluent 36 broke the back of the chase.

Morgan rejected the notion that sixes were the only thing holding his side back in the shorter format.

“I don’t think that’s the real problem,” said Morgan, standing in as captain for the injured Stuart Broad. “You can never just concentrate on hitting sixes... getting the fours is more important. Around 82 per cent of games are won by the side who hit the most fours. But we never put ourselves in a position to take their bowling on, they bowled well but we didn’t play well enough to take them on.

“We never really got any substantial partnerships going which was disappointing given the progress we made at the back end of the West Indies trip.”