MORGAN IS NOW THE FREAK MARK II

EOIN MORGAN was ahead of the white-ball curve when he first played for England and played shots other batsmen could only watch and say: ‘How did he do that?’

He was the original limited- overs freak, particularly with sweeps and reverse shots against spin.

What he then had to do when the rest of the world caught up and, in some cases, went past him was work hard to improve his game and get even better. The England captain has done that to become The Freak, Mark II.

It is not all about those sweeps and reverse sweeps now.

Morgan (below) hits over cow corner and straight very well while the six he struck over mid-wicket in the second Twenty20 international against Pakistan to reach 50 showed how powerful he is now in other areas.

So, when opponents block off his sweeps or reverses, he slog sweeps and they put a man there and he then hits over the top. Approaching 34, he is still constantly developing.

And Morgan is a freak because he doesn’t seem to need to play a lot of cricket to do that improving and developing.

If someone had asked me which player would be least affected by lockdown, I would have said Eoin because he has this knack of coming in and looking in fabulous nick after three months without a game.

That suggests a huge confidence in himself and his own ability because a lot of people in his position would go off and play as much as possible for Middlesex to at least say: ‘I’ve played and given myself the best chance of being in form for England.’ But Morgan knows he doesn’t have to do that. He knows what is good for him.

But don’t underestimate what goes into him being in such wonderful form, because he will be practising well and doing the things he needs to give himself a solid base and focus on his contact with the ball.

He has hit 32 sixes since the beginning of the 2019 summer and is averaging more than 50 in his last 10 games. So, when he says he is in the best form of his life, you had better believe him. He’s been phenomenal.

When England won the World Cup last year, there was talk of him maybe going out on the ultimate high but he was right to carry on.

It’s important now for him to carry on at the helm of the white-ball teams for as long as possible.

The two key areas for him then were whether he still justifies his place as a batsman and whether his back would stand up to the rigours of carrying on because there were times during that World Cup when he was struggling against the short ball.

Well, there is certainly no one who will question his place now even though England will have to leave out some good players when they finalise their team to take on Australia, starting on Friday. And there do not seem to be any problems with injury either.

Morgan sets the right example, too. Emerging young players like Tom Banton will see the captain take the positive route in everything he does and realise he doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk.

He is the best limited-overs captain England have ever had and he’s the best whiteball captain in the world right now.

Why not play on for the next two Twenty20 World Cups and maybe even a defence of the 50-over World Cup in three years?

He is worth his place as a captain but he’s in the top five batters in the side, too.