Morgan’s last stand
Curtain set to fall on skipper’s England career after tour no-go
EOIN MORGAN insists his experience of previous terror alerts on the Asian sub-continent is the reason why he is preparing to make the biggest decision of his career and pull out of the upcoming tour of Bangladesh.
England’s limited-overs captain has remained tight-lipped about his participation on the trip, which starts with three one-day internationals early next month.
However, he has now all but admitted he is ready to make himself unavailable over security fears following the terrorist attack on a Dhaka café at the start of July that killed 18 foreigners.
Morgan would be going against the advice of the England & Wales Cricket Board, whose security advisor Reg Dickason last month cleared the tour, and also Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, who this week warned players they would be risking their places if they did not travel.
The 29-year-old will inform Strauss of his decision in the next 48 hours. Other players will do the same, with the majority expected to tour.
Morgan, though, appears likely to go against the grain. He said: “I’ve been to places before where things have become a distraction. It’s only been once or twice when security’s been a distraction and, when it has been, I’ve told myself I’d never put myself in that situation again.
“International cricket, or any cricket for that matter, is not about worrying about different things. It’s meant to be the best time of your life, it should be something that you are looking forward to and wanting to do well and able to focus on.
“I think it varies from individual to individual. You have guys who have not toured anywhere like this before under circumstances like this and I think, given that nobody has toured there since the terrorist attack, makes it a bigger decision.”
Morgan’s reticence is explained by two incidents. The first came six years ago when he was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore side playing against Mumbai Indians in the IPL when the stadium in Bangalore was hit by a double bomb blast. He also played domestic cricket in Bangladesh in early 2014, when the country was wrapped with political violence.
He said: “In 2010 we played an IPL game in Bangalore and a bomb went off in the ground. We immediately left for the airport. So that was an instance. Another one was Bangladesh playing domestic cricket during political elections when things were incredibly violent.”