Eoin Morgan believes it is a priority that England give Gus Atkinson his England debut in their second T20 against New Zealand.
Atkinson, who has been picked in England’s preliminary squad for the Cricket World Cup, is yet to make his international debut after rising to stardom in The Hundred.
England opted to rest Atkinson for the first T20 and instead handed a debut to Brydon Carse, who took three wickets.
With Atkinson only ever having played two List A games in his career, former England captain Morgan believes the focus has to change to ensuring Atkinson heads on the plane to India for the World Cup with a lot of game time, and confidence, under his belt.
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England’s Jason Roy backs his Surrey team-mate Gus Atkinson to succeed at international level after he was named in England’s World Cup squad
“For me, he is a priority because he is in that preliminary ODI squad and if he is fit, I would play him,” Morgan told Sky Sports Cricket.
“I am not sure if he was fit to play tonight (Wednesday) but you have to get him continuously playing because the closer he gets to getting on the plane without any game time under his belt, the more doubt there is in his head and the more doubt it creates in his body.
“If I was Jos Buttler, I would give him any opportunity to get more confidence before he gets to India without any international cricket before.
“It is a risk bringing somebody like that in. To mitigate that risk, you have to have him play more to have more confidence in that changing room.”
Carse targeting red-ball cricket after impressive debut
Carse insists it has “always been a number one focus” to play cricket for England after his key performance in the first T20 International against New Zealand.
Carse was a late replacement in the 20-over squad for the New Zealand series, replacing the injured John Turner, and despite dealing with injuries himself in recent times, he insists that playing for England remains a priority.
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Brydon Carse had a day to remember after taking three wickets on debut for England in front of his home crowd in Durham
“Over the last year I’ve had massive ambitions to play for England,” Carse said.
“I was unfortunate in the winter to pick up an injury and it’s always been my number one focus to try and play for England again.
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Sky Sports Cricket pundit Kumar Sangakkara says Dawid Malan’s batting gives freedom to the more explosive players around him in England’s T20 team
“With the amount of white-ball cricket in all the different leagues around the world at the moment players have got a lot of opportunity to play a lot of cricket.
“I think it just comes down to what your ambition is, what you want to do as a cricketer. I’ve still got a lot of ambition to play red-ball cricket and to play Test cricket for England.”
Watch the second T20 international between England and New Zealand live on Sky Sports Cricket from 5.30pm on Friday (6pm first ball). Stream with NOW for £26 a month for 12 months.