England captain Eoin Morgan says they will carry on with coded messages during the series against South Africa, insisting it’s “100 per cent in the spirit of the game.”
Morgan is happy to carry on receiving coded messages from England’s dressing room balcony, saying that there is “nothing untoward” with using data as fuel for innovation.
Team analyst Nathan Leamon was spotted by television cameras showing letter and number combinations such as ‘2C’ and ‘4E’ on cards during the Twenty20 series between the sides, in a bid to provide Morgan with real-time information to feed into his decisions.
The innovation had been cleared with match referee Andy Pycroft but some have been critical of the backroom intervention. Most notably Michael Vaughan, one of Morgan’s predecessors, labelled the move “nonsense” and “a step too far”.
Morgan, though, is more than happy to further trial the idea in the first of three ODIs against the Proteas on Friday.
“There’s nothing untoward about it, 100 per cent it is in the spirit of the game,” he said.
“It’s about maximising information that we’re taking in and measuring it against things – coaches’ recommendations, the data, things going on.
“We’ll definitely continue with it and give it enough of a sample size to see if it improves our decision making on the field or improves our performance.”
Any scepticism around the idea can be split into two camps – that it stands contrary to the spirit of the game or that it undermines Morgan’s role in leading the side in the heat of battle.
The first complaint has been partially answered by the match officials’ apparent indifference, while Morgan’s status as a World Cup-winning skipper with huge kudos means he is secure enough in his job not to worry about the latter.
Bristling slightly as he positioned himself against the dissenting voices, he said: “I think captains are different. You get captains that enjoy the title and the power and the accolades that go with it.
“Then you have other captains that continue to be pushed and want to learn for the benefit of the team.
“For me this is a system we want to use to try and help myself and the other leaders within the side almost take a little bit of the emotion and the feel of the decision-making on the field and compare it to the hard data that is continuing to feed information to us on the field.”
After going with the same XI for all three Twenty20 wins, Morgan will lead a different looking side at Newlands. Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan have all departed, meaning opportunities for others to raise their hands.
Joe Root will resume his role as the anchor of the batting order, while Moeen Ali, Mark Wood and Sam Billings are equally hopeful of making the cut after extended spells carrying the drinks.
Nat
Roar Rookie
Just put an ear piece in straight to the box and be done with it.
JGK
Roar Guru
That would be awesome.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
That's part of what I meant by my 'sheer stupidity' comment.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Much ado about nothing.. There is plenty of ways to communicate from the coaching box to the team.. With existing technologies why do you even need coded boards? Maybe teach the captain Morse code and flash messages :stoked: Anyway surely there is enough intellectual capital within a team of 11 international cricketers to make as informed calls if not superior ones as any coach sitting in the stands. I’m all for innovation, DRS, decision referrals , have been seriously good for the game, but coded boards? Nah
Nick
Roar Guru
But the advantage of the code cards is that it doesn't slow the game down. When the runners come out in the high vis they are there for a long time, or they are bring a "change of gloves".
Paul
Roar Guru
so what happens if England uses these boards for all the games leading up to the T20 WC, then the ICC bans them for that tournament?
Rob
Guest
This is the part I don't get. England are basically admitting that Morgan needs help to get his tactics right. Not exactly the best way to support your captain.
Paul
Roar Guru
I wonder what board Justin Langer might have been holding up for Finch after Starcs 11 ball, 20 run first over the other night? There must be a code for "get him off".
Paul
Roar Guru
The other really sad aspect of this, is England believing Eoin Morgan, arguably the best captain in white ball cricket, needs this type of thing in order to win games. He's managed to cope through 50 odd matches without these boards.
JGK
Roar Guru
I guess if you say it enough times you’ll believe it.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I imagine the difference is they can do this every ball or every over, whereas there are some limits on how often the dayglo vests come on, even if it is far too often!. I remember when they banned Hansie Cronje from getting messages via an earpiece. Presumably the idea is that the spirit of cricket is that captains and teams are supposed to work it out for themselves as much as possible on the field, but this is open to discussion.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
The spirit of the game should include sheer stupidity because that is what this is.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Shouldn't they be more embarrassed Morgan can't remember this on his own.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm not clear what the difference is between someone holding up cards from the boundary or some bloke wearing a dayglo vest running onto the field with a bottle of water and a message?