England vs Sri Lanka: Eoin Morgan optimistic team have recovered from T20 World Cup heartache

England one-day captain Eoin Morgan is confident the team have recovered from their dramatic defeat to the West Indies in the T20 World Cup final in Kolkata, on the eve of the resumption of their limited overs schedule. Sri Lanka and Pakistan represent the opponents in two five-match 50-overs series' and two one-off 20-over games this summer, England's first white ball opponents since the showcase final defeat in April.

Morgan's side were in sight of a second world title heading into the final over before Carlos Brathwaite struck four consecutive sixes to clinch victory with two balls to spare in a thrilling climax to the tournament in India. England can however ill-afford to allow the loss to haunt them with less than a year to go until the Champions Trophy on home soil, upon their return to the shortened form of the game.

And the skipper is keen to focus on the positives heading into the opening ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday [21 June] at Trent Bridge, insisting his team have banished the demons of their collapse at Eden Gardens less than 12 weeks ago. Nine of the team which faltered have been included in the squad for the series but Morgan expects no ill-effects.

"The general feel is speaking to the guys since then is that we controlled the game really well," he said. "It is one of those things that happen; a guy comes in and hits four sixes off the first four balls in the final over of a T20 World Cup final, it is quite rare. Even hitting consecutive sixes in a T20 final is quite rare. There has been a lot of time since then, a lot of cricket played. There is going to be no hangover from that."

The back-to-back one-day series' come less than 12 months before the start of the Champions Trophy, which England will host next summer from 1 June. Though they have avoided both Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the draw, they must be tamed if England are to convince anyone of their ability to contest for major silverware again.

"Over the last few months we've played some really good cricket," Morgan added. "If you look at where we are positioned in the rankings, Sri Lanka are ahead of us. It is all good and well playing 12 months of good cricket but in retrospect that doesn't give you the right to win you a 50-over World Cup.

"You have to string long, consistent performances together and build a group of players that can win consistently over a period of time to not only improve your squad but go up those rankings. Playing against sub-continent teams is always a big challenge. They're used to playing bilateral competitions, tri-series type games and they're used to that. They're always competitive in a different way, different types of spinners, different types of seamers; not your conventional sorts of bowlers so they are the challenges that they will pose."

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