Morgan ends debate with a ton of steel
EOIN MORGAN showed the leadership qualities England will need in the Champions Trophy this summer by hitting a brilliant century in the first ODI against West Indies here.
The England limited-overs captain struck a gutsy 107 that was replete with power-hitting down the ground and the deft flicks and dabs that have become his trademark.
Morgan’s 10th ODI hundred helped his side post 296-6, an impressive total given the conditions and the tough start that had seen them reduced to 29-2 after they lost the toss and were asked to bat first.
Morgan’s character was questioned when he chose to miss his side’s tour of Bangladesh last October because of security fears.
Many thought he would lose respect among his players and that his captaincy would be irredeemably weakened.
However, Morgan appears to have emerged from the episode stronger – this innings was his second century in three one-day innings following the 102 against India at Cuttack in January.
Morgan answered his critics by showing the one quality here that his detractors accused him of lacking last year – bravery.
The surface at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium offered variable bounce – as was shown by the Shannon Gabriel deliveries that kept low to dismiss Jason Roy and Joe Root. The pitch was not dangerous, although the short ball from Gabriel that struck Morgan on the back of the head in the 29th over undoubtedly was.
It was almost a carboncopy of the delivery that fatally struck Australian batsman Phillip Hughes in November 2014.
Thankfully Morgan was wearing a stem guard – the attachment brought in to protect batsmen after Hughes’s death – and it was that which took the full force of the blow and not the England captain’s neck.
Morgan, on 48 at the time, needed nothing more serious than treatment and a replacement stem guard before he could resume an innings that illustrated beyond doubt that he still deserves his place in England’s powerful batting line-up on merit and not just because he is wearing the captain’s armband. This was not a trademark England innings, the surface dictating that they had to be rather more circumspect than is now normal. Yet there were still some eye-catching blows from Morgan and Ben Stokes, above, in his first international since landing that £1.7 million Indian Premier League windfall last week. Stokes started off scratchily, needing 26 balls to reach double figures. But the all-rounder smashed the final ball of the 40th over from Jason Mohammed straight back over the spinner’s head for a huge six – England’s first of the innings.
That started England’s charge in the final 10 overs, when they scored exactly 100. By the time Stokes had posted his sixth ODI half-century in nine innings he had bludgeoned two more sixes.
The partnership between Stokes and Morgan was worth 110 before Stokes was caught on 55 attempting to hit Devendra Bishoo into the Caribbean Sea.
Morgan brought up his hundred with a six off Carlos Brathwaite over deep midwicket. It was some way to reach three figures and although he was run out in the final over, Morgan’s work had already been done.