England’s new white-ball coach Matthew Mott has said Eoin Morgan will decide when to step down as captain, but thinks that is “a long way off”.
Morgan has just one half-century in his past 24 white-ball innings for England and will turn 36 years old before the T20 World Cup in Australia this autumn.
He led England to 50-over World Cup glory in 2019 and they reached the T20 World Cup semis last year.
“He always wants to be picked as a batter on form and merit,” said Mott.
“When he feels that’s not the case he will step aside.”
Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali have been tipped to take over from Morgan but Mott, who begins his tenure with the first of three ODIs against the Netherlands in Amstelveen on Friday, does not plan to push Morgan towards the exit.
Morgan has a close relationship with England managing director Rob Key, as well as Test coach Brendon McCullum, and will be allowed to determine when he bows out.
“I think that’s a long way off being at that point,” he added. “Great players go through runs and sometimes you flick a switch and it turns – then you wonder what the fuss is about.
“Definitely watching him bat in the nets he’s in pretty good positions and going well. You can already tell what a profound influence he has on this group. He’s got a lot of great cricket ahead of him.”
‘Mott won’t have to reinvent the wheel’
Mott left his role as head coach of Australia’s women’s team after back-to-back T20 World Cup titles in 2018 and 2020, having won the 50-over equivalent this year.
Mott acknowledged he will not have to “reinvent the wheel” with the side given that England are ranked second in the world in one-day internationals, top in Twenty20 internationals and have a large pool of players.
However, Key has currently placed a greater emphasis on red-ball cricket, and the side have started brightly under McCullum.
Mott, 48, accepted that with England’s coaching set-up now a split role there are times when difficult conversations will be had with Key and McCullum over selection of multi-format players such as Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow – instrumental in England’s win over New Zealand in the second Test.
“What you do need is a healthy respect for the other person and to understand your own bias,” said Mott, who was also previously head coach at Glamorgan and New South Wales.
“We are all going to want what is best for our team. I think that’s where Rob [Key] plays a key role with managing the expectations of both coaches.
“For me, the clarity is that at some point there is always going to have to be a greater emphasis on one of the formats. Whether you are leading into a World Cup or leading into a Test series, that clarity on who has priority will be important.
“Being really honest about that and managing expectations for the other team is important. It can’t be equal all the time. The Test series is at the moment. It’s a big Test series in the context where England is at with the red ball.
“As England get closer to the T20 World Cup I am sure the white-ball team will probably get a greater say in the picking of the players. You just have to park your ego sometimes and look at the bigger picture. I think between the three of us we can certainly work that out.”
