ENGLAND skipper Eoin Morgan believes Jos Buttler is the perfect vice-captain as England prepare to take on New Zealand in their second World Cup match in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

The Lancashire wicketkeeper was handed the position when Morgan took over as one-day skipper from Alastair Cook two months ago but the move has largely gone under the radar.

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“In making Jos the vice-captain I thought it was quite an easy decision given that when I’ve captained in the past he’s been someone that I’ve gone to get immediate input on the game,” said Morgan, who denied he had needed to explain the decision to Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad or Joe Root, who has been touted as a future skipper.

“No, I think guys were quite happy about it. They were fine.”

Morgan inevitably had to brush off questions over his own form too, admitting that he was perplexed by the size of the gap between his best and worst since arriving Down Under.

His tour-opening century against Australia was made with the same sort of defiance with which he has since had to repeatedly bat away questions over his form slump, which has seen Morgan manage just two runs in five innings.

“I’d love you to explain it to me because I don’t understand it,” he said. “Personally I try and keep it as simple as possible. You don’t look any further than what’s in front of you and I’ve done that and it hasn’t worked.

“But I believe it will work and when it does hopefully I can cash in on it and hopefully make it either a match-winning performance or build on somebody else’s performance.”

A Morgan return to form would go a long way towards England pulling of an upset against the in-form Black Caps at the Westpac Stadium.

England have only ever won one ODI in the New Zealand capital - way back in 1984 - and Morgan suggested he and the other senior players would need to lead the way.

“Playing together as a unit is huge for us. It’s an area where we’ve struggled in recent times. We’ve had guys who have put in good individual performances but guys haven’t built on that and that has been disappointing.”