sport news Eoin Morgan unable to confirm whether he will help England defend the World Cup ... trends now

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England’s one-day team begin the long march to next year’s World Cup on Friday – with captain Eoin Morgan unable to say whether he’ll be in India to defend the title won so thrillingly at Lord’s in 2019.

A trio of ODIs in the next six days against a Netherlands side ranked 14th in the world ought to provide a gentle starting point, though Morgan has lost twice to the Dutch in the Twenty20 format – on his debut at Lord’s in 2009 and in Bangladesh in 2014.

But another upset now, even with Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes otherwise engaged in the Test series with New Zealand, would cause more than a ripple in the grachts that flow through the centre of Amsterdam.