Morgan expects tough ODI series against Sri Lanka

Eoin Morgan is expecting a tough challenge when England take on Sri Lanka in five One-Day Internationals starting this week and is urging his team to continue playing good cricket.

After a relatively one-sided three-Test series was won 2-0 by England, Morgan is expecting things to be much closer in the ODIs that follow.

Sri Lanka have just completed two crushing wins over Ireland to show that they will be no pushovers.

"I think they hold a big threat," Morgan said, speaking at a cooking challenge event hosted by England's official airline partners Etihad in London.

While England currently sit in sixth place in the ICC ODI rankings, Sri Lanka are one place ahead in fifth, and Morgan knows that although his team have produced some strong performances, they need to continue to improve.

"Over the last 12 months we've played some really good cricket," he said.

"I think if you look at where we are positioned in the rankings, Sri Lanka are ahead of us so it's all well and good playing 12 months of good cricket but in retrospect that doesn't give you the right to win a 50-over World Cup."

England host both the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and the ICC World Cup in 2019, and it is clear that Morgan already has his sights set on building teams to compete strongly at both - and help put a dismal 2015 World Cup group stage exit behind him.

"You have to string long consistent performances together and build a group of players that win consistently over a period of time to not only improve your squad but to go up the rankings," he added.

The series begins tomorrow (21st June) at Trent Bridge, before moving on to Edgbaston, Bristol, The Oval and Cardiff while Sri Lanka's final game on the tour will be a Twenty20 International in Southampton.

For England to move ahead of Sri Lanka in the ODI rankings, they need to win the series 4-1 or 5-0.

© Cricket World 2016