The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
MorganmissesIPL tofocusonEngland
EOIN MORGAN’S decision to skip this year’s Indian Premier League provides some much-needed encouragement for beleaguered England.
A miserable winter of discontent continued on Sunday when the England and Wales Cricket Board’s explanation for the controversial end of Kevin Pietersen’s international career met with a decidedly mixed public and expert reaction on social media.
Morgan, however, has perhaps helped to start forging the future of “trust” so high on the ECB’s agenda — by saying ‘no thank-you’ on this occasion to the riches available at the IPL.
Competition will hot up at the start of this summer to replace Pietersen in England’s Test team, and 27-year-old Irishman Morgan has made his intentions clear to put himself in the frame for a recall.
He announced via Twitter that, having played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers in previous IPL seasons, he has thought again about entering this week’s annual player auction.
While Pietersen is free to go to the highest bidder on Wednesday, Morgan’s name — one of 11 then England-qualified players initially listed for the auction — is no longer in the mix.
Morgan played the last of his 16 Tests in early 2012, when he appeared to be the fall guy of England’s 3-0 defeat against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
But the Middlesex left-hander has continued to impress in the shorter formats, most recently as England’s most reliable batsman in their limited-overs series defeats against Australia this winter.
England’s management stressed, after their 5-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia, that all prospectiveTest players will be expected to augment their credentials in county championship cricket before the first of this summer’s two series — against Sri Lanka in June.
In Sunday’s press release to explain the reasons for axing Pietersen — England’s all-time record run scorer across all formats — the ECB cited an issue of “trust” which is considered paramount to help Test and one-day international captain Alastair Cook forge a team for the future.
Limited-overs coach Ashley Giles, whose teams lost back-to-back shortformat series in Australia after the Ashes, will continue in charge for the forthcoming trip to West Indies and the ICC World Twenty20 which follows in Bangladesh.