Eoin Morgan has claimed that England teammate Harry Gurney has the ability to copy the role played by Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka.

Malinga once again proved his worth in the latter stages of matches in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 win over England at The Oval on Tuesday night, and Morgan has backed Gurney to achieve success by bowling at the death in limited-overs cricket.

"It's not often in Twenty20 cricket that you can be dominated by a bowler to the extent that Malinga does it," the batsman is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard.

"I certainly see Harry Gurney as someone who can bowl at the death. He had a great debut, showing great clarity of thought and a high level of skill, especially against Thisara Perera, who is capable of smashing the ball to all parts at the end.

"He has got something different about him. He has fulfilled that role for Nottinghamshire for quite some time now. It used to be Jade Dernbach who did that job for us, and that worked for a while. Now it's Harry's turn."

Gurney could be named in the team to take on Sri Lanka in the first one-day international on Thursday.