ENGLAND One-Day captain Eoin Morgan should not be stripped of the captaincy after struggling with the bat, believes Gloucestershire Cricket head coach Richard Dawson.

Morgan’s latest failure, a duck against Australia in the 111-run World Cup defeat in Melbourne’s MCG on Saturday, means he has not scored for England in four of the last five innings he has played.

And with England facing a massive clash with New Zealand in Wellington tomorrow (Friday), another poor innings will only lead to an intensity in criticism and pressure on the Dublin-born player as England try and salvage their World Cup-winning hopes.

Legends like Geoff Boycott have been forthright in their views about beleaguered Morgan since the Aussie thrashing last Saturday, but Dawson said booting him out of the captaincy is not the way to go.

The Gloucestershire boss said: “I think a lot of it is down to trust. You trust the preparation you have done, you trust the work you have done, you trust your technique and you always go back to the fact that he scored a hundred (121 v Australia in January) not that long ago.

“So you have to keep revisiting those things and that is what you get it from.

“You get your trust from your past performances and the practice and prep you have done and I’m sure it will be nailed down before the New Zealand game.

“It is very hard to say ‘trust what I have done’ until you get over that line (and score runs).”

Dawson thinks that actually having the England captaincy may do Morgan good. He said: “Some captains like it because it takes their mind off their own game so he might be one of those who comes to the fore and gets those runs.

“He is a good captain. They (England) have done the practice and done the prep and they have just got to trust it now. They can’t keep swapping and changing things.”