Morgan calls time on England and passes captaincy to Buttler
EngLiSH cricket will reach the end of an era today when Eoin Morgan confirms his retirement from the international game after more than seven revolutionary years in charge. The white-ball captaincy will pass to Jos Buttler.
Morgan, who will be 36 in September, made up his mind to step down after scoring two ducks during the recent one-day series in the netherlands, where he sat out the third match because of a groin strain.
Having insisted earlier this year that he would always do what was best for the team, he has given Buttler a few months to prepare for the T20 World Cup in australia, starting in october.
it is understood Morgan will carry on playing some domestic cricket, and continue to lead London Spirit in the Hundred.
But any role as a dressing-room mentor for England’s white-ball teams is likely to be delayed: australian Matthew Mott has recently taken over as coach, and Morgan does not want to cramp his style.
His departure signals the end of one of the most significant spells of captaincy in the history of the English game.
Handed the job just in time for the 2015 World Cup following the sacking of alastair Cook, he survived the post-tournament cull to effect a sea change in England’s approach — backed by a new coach, Trevor Bayliss, who gave him the freedom to implement his attacking philosophy.
in England’s first major game of the new era, against new Zealand at Edgbaston in June 2015, they passed 400 for the first time — and never looked back.
The following year in Kolkata, they were denied a second World T20 title by Carlos Brathwaite’s quartet of last- over sixes off Ben Stokes.
But by May 2018, England had moved to the top of the ODI rankings. and in July 2019, on a pulsating day at Lord’s, they clinched their first men’s 50-over World Cup after a super over against the luckless new Zealanders — a tournament in which Morgan hit a world-record 17 sixes in an innings against afghanistan.
From then on, he was untouchable — until the end, when his form deserted him and he began to look out of place in a team full of more powerful ball-strikers.
Even so, his decision came as a surprise to many of his teammates, who even after his struggles in amsterdam backed him to rediscover the touch that brought him 7,701 ODI runs (including 744
for his native ireland) and 2,458 in T20 internationals (all for England). only Joe root has scored more than his 13 one- day hundreds for England (Morgan had already made one for ireland).
‘He obviously feels like he’s done with international cricket,’ teammate Moeen ali told the BBC’s Test Match Special. ‘and the team for him still comes first, which just shows how unselfish he is. He’s done a remarkable job and he’s the best we’ve ever had, for sure.
‘it’s strange to comprehend the side without him at the moment. obviously things move on and you kind of get used to it, but it is sad.’