London, Aug 26 (IANS): England's stand-in one-day captain Eoin Morgan has backed under-fire batsman Jonathan Trott, saying he is invaluable to the team.

The 30-year-old Trott, who opened the innings, was criticised for scoring a slow 69 off 105 balls in England's 11-run win via the Duckworth-Lewis method against Ireland in Dublin Thursday.

Morgan, who was leading the team for the first time, leapt to Trott's defence and said he was happy to have the experienced batsman on the crease when wickets were tumbling at the other end. Morgan captaining his adopted country for the first time in his hometown of Dublin scored 59 off 65 balls.

"It was a challenging day for us. Going on and off for the rain wasn't easy and batting first wasn't easy," said Morgan.

"It was hard to say what was a good score on that wicket, so we're very happy with the result. Trotty is invaluable to our team and has been for a couple of years, since he has been involved. Today he was crucial to our success and the majority of times he scores runs we win, which is fantastic. He judges the wicket really well and we take great advice from him," he added.