Eoin Morgan refuted Kevin Pietersen’s opinion that the England captain had ‘looked scared’ while facing Mitchell Starc in his side’s Cricket World Cup loss to Australia on Tuesday.

Former England batsman Pietersen made his claim on Twitter, adding: “I’ve not seen a captain show such a weakness for a while.”

Asked at the post-match news conference whether he had feared the Aussie fast bowler, Morgan said: “No. No. I didn’t feel like that way at all.”

Morgan managed just four runs in the match at Lord’s though, falling to Starc, and England lost the match by 64 runs to put their hopes of reaching the semi-finals in doubt.