Morgan urges senior England players to 'lead from front' post WC opener defeat against Oz

England's cricket team captain Eoin Moran has turned on his squad's senior players and asked them to lead from the front following his side's thrashing by Australia in their World Cup opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Morgan made his third duck in four innings in a 111-run defeat at a packed MCG on Saturday. He claimed that the Australians outplayed England in every department.

Morgan, whose team face co-hosts New Zealand on Friday, said that certainly first point of call is to turn to senior players and ask them to lead from the front, the BBC reported.

England must finish in the top four of their seven-team pool to reach the quarterfinals.

The skipper said that this result doesn't make or break England's tour, adding that their aim is to first reach the quarterfinals but added that their first two games are the toughest.

Australia racked up 342-9 - with Aaron Finch making 135 - before bowling out England for 231 in 41.5 overs to inflict their second biggest World Cup loss in terms of runs.

England's bowling in the closing stages was once again found wanting as the final 10 overs yielded 105 runs, including 76 off the last six.

Although Morgan accepted that his bowlers had struggled, he defended their strategies, saying that he thought England's plans were reasonably good but the execution was poor.

Morgan claimed that there are three or four plans at the death, adding that each batsman varies, insisting that it's not easy to take wickets and restrict scoring.

The skipper also remained defiant over his own form, despite scoring only two runs in his last five innings, saying that if he was nicking off every ball that he got he would be worried, but added that he is not and is getting out in different ways.

Morgan said that moving forward he would be trying to spend as much time in the middle as possible.