Eoin Morgan says England will need to play 'close to' perfect against India in ODI series

Eoin Morgan's England need improvement against India in this week's one-day international series after the tourists wrapped up the Twenty20 International series with a seven-wicket win in Bristol.

The hosts' 198-9 on Sunday was their third-highest T20 international total on home soil.

But on an excellent pitch, and small playing area, it proved inadequate as Rohit Sharma's unbeaten century eased India to a 2-1 series success after a third-wicket stand of 89 with his captain Virat Kohli.

Jason Roy (67) and Jos Buttler appeared to have put England on course to easily top 200 - but after their opening partnership of 94 in under eight overs, momentum was lost, and there was no grand finish either.

A manic conclusion to the innings in fact saw five wickets fall in 15 balls, albeit for 21 runs, as Hardik Pandya finished with a career-best 4-38.

Morgan said: "Those 20 or 30 runs we missed out on, in the back-end of our innings, cost us.

"We did a lot of things right today - particularly that platform set.

"Jason and Jos were brilliant up front, and almost gave us a licence to allow ourselves to think about 220.

"But the execution of our shots didn't really match up with getting to that total.

"On a good wicket, small ground, we should be better than that."

_______________

'Difficult' to drop Alex Hales admits England captain Eoin Morgan

_______________

The tourists were therefore always favourites in the chase, and completed it with eight balls to spare.

"India never really got away from us, but we struggled to take wickets," added Morgan. "They kept up with the rate, and then it was a position in the 16th or 17th over they could take the game away from us - which is disappointing."

The Irishman does not believe England have to play perfectly to beat India in white-ball cricket - just very, very well.

"I'd say close to," he said. "I don't think we have to play a completely perfect game every time [to beat them] - we proved that at Cardiff. But certainly today they had their day.

"India were probably on top of their game today, and we weren't - and we were just short."

Morgan and acting coach Paul Farbrace had a difficult call to make before a ball was bowled, to accommodate the return of fit-again all-rounder Ben Stokes - and in the end it was Test captain Joe Root who was dropped.

Asked if the conversation with Root is among the toughest he has had as captain, Morgan said: "Yes. Dropping Joe is not an easy decision.

"Trying to win the game on this particular ground, it actually came down to Ben's bowling option.

"If we had Joe as a sixth bowler - which we needed today - an extra spinner against India didn't really match up that well."

Key findings of Jenkins report

Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.