England white ball captain Eoin Morgan set to retire
Eoin  Morgan averaged 39.75 at a strike-rate of 93.89 in ODIs and 28.58 at a strike-rate of 136.17 in T20s for England
Eoin Morgan averaged 39.75 at a strike-rate of 93.89 in ODIs and 28.58 at a strike-rate of 136.17 in T20s for England

ENGLAND’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan is set to retire from international cricket.

An official announcement could be made today.

Under Morgan, England won the 2019 World Cup and reached the top of the one-day and Twenty20 rankings.

The 35-year-old, who took charge of the T20 side in 2012 and one-day side in 2014, has struggled for form and fitness in recent times, with Jos Buttler the favourite to replace him.

England face India in a three-match T20 series starting on 7 July, while the T20 World Cup in Australia begins in October.

Morgan is England’s leading run-scorer in one-day and T20 cricket with 6,957 and 2,458 runs respectively.

His tally of 225 ODIs and 115 T20s is also an England record.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special: “It is exactly the right time for him to step aside.

“He really is the legacy white-ball captain and in 30-40 years’ time people will still remember him what he’s done England’s white-ball team. He must be wonderful to play under and he was a brilliant batter.”

England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who was part of the World Cup-winning squad, said: “He’s done a remarkable job.

“It is strange to comprehend the side without him. Things move on and you have to get used to it, but it is sad.

“I’m not surprised at the same time because he is a very selfless person and probably is thinking about the team more than anything.”

Morgan took over from Alastair Cook as ODI captain and oversaw England’s miserable 2015 World Cup campaign when they were knocked out in the group stages.

But he implemented a new, attacking approach which helped England break the record for the highest one-day total three times.

They achieved that feat most recently in making 498-4 against the Netherlands last week, but Morgan made ducks in his two innings in the series and missed the third ODI with a groin problem.

He has only one half-century in his past 26 white-ball innings for England.

“To change the mindset of a whole country and the way they play their cricket is a massive achievement – it is so difficult to do,” Moeen said.

“To then be a very good captain on top of that, tactically on the field and to look after the players…

“There were so many times where people were caught on the boundary and they were like ‘I should have just hit a single’ and he was like ‘no, no, next time you hit it out of the ground’. We’d never come across a captain like that before.”(BBC Sport.).

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.