Picking England’s Chris Jordan for T20 super over was obvious – Morgan

Eoin Morgan feels the performance of Chris Jordan displayed the development of England’s one-day and Twenty20 side after his team beat Pakistan in a super over to win their final T20 match and claim a 3-0 series victory.

With the enthralling match finishing in a tie in Sharjah, most watching thought Chris Woakes, who claimed the crucial wicket of Shoaib Malik in the final over, would bowl the super over but England went with Jordan.

The Sussex player had earlier conceded 39 runs without a wicket – the most by an England bowler – but Morgan told Sky Sports that picking Jordan was an easy choice.

He said: “Handing Chris Jordan the ball in that super over really epitomised the squad and the development it has gone through.

“We’ve been watching him in the nets and he’s our best yorker bowler and once we knew what we were going to bowl, the decision was pretty easy. Woakesy had a different set of skills, bowling into the wicket but we once we decided on six yorkers, we picked Jordan.”

Rotation has been a regular theme in the T20 series as selectors look to establish a starting 11 for the Twenty20 World Cup in India next year. When asked about the thinking behind the selection Morgan said planning for the future was the key factor.

“The rationale is long-term development. We’ve only played two series as a group [one-day and T20]. With the World Cup around the corner and a lack of T20 competitions in county cricket we want to see as many guys under pressure, away from home against a Pakistan side.

“Conditions in Dubai will be similar to those in India so we want to test ourselves as much as possible.

“We don’t know our best XI but I think that helps because picking guys who are on-form as opposed to picking the same team every time breeds a good culture and guys are buying into that for the future.”