THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET
England’s Eoin Morgan gets ready to face the country of his birth as Ireland arrive in Bristol today for the summer’s opening ODI.
ASKED if Ireland’s first match in England was a special occasion for himself and his team, Eoin Morgan’s reply was cold and calculated. “No, it’s just another game.”
The Dublin-born batsman, who threw his lot in with England in 2009 after playing 23 ODIs for his homeland, could be forgiven for a twinge of sentimentality at this occasion.
Ireland’s first match in England – and their first multi-game series against their nearest neighbours – is a huge deal for the visitors.
Yet for Morgan and England this is just business. This is just one more game on their way to their ultimate goal this summer – winning the Champions Trophy.
“It’s an opportunity to set the tone for what is a big summer for us and it’s an opportunity we want to take,” says Morgan.
“All we’ve done for the last 18 months is concentrate on ourselves. It’s important to recognise some strengths in the opposition, but ultimately we know if we play to our potential we can compete with some of the best sides in the world.”
England will look to dispose of Ireland ruthlessly both here in Bristol today and at Lord’s on Sunday. That’s exactly what they did in the Caribbean back in February, whitewashing an under-strength West Indies 3-0.
They will now hope to keep that momentum going ahead of a fourday team trip to Spain on May 16 and then the three-match series against South Africa – the world’s No.1-ranked ODI side – that will act as the final preparation before the Champions Trophy starts on June 1.
Joe Root, taking a back seat in white-ball cricket before taking centre stage as Test captain in July, certainly thinks England are shaping up well.
“We’re in a good position,” he said. “You look at how we’ve played over six months or even a year, and we keep moving forward as a side.
“We’ve got depth in every area, and it’s set us up nicely. It’s all about building up nicely before that tournament, getting some results under our belts and making sure the guys are feeling confident.”
England’s strength in depth is evident by the fact they can afford to allow three nailed-on first XI players in Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes to miss this series to continue playing in the Indian Premier League.
That strength in depth is also illustrated by the fact only that trio’s absence is allowing Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings to get into the team for this mini series.
Billings will be given the gloves for these two matches ahead of Bairstow, the Test wicketkeeper.
Morgan says:“We haven’t seen a lot of difference between Jonny and Sam with the gloves on. These two games are an opportunity to have a look at Sam and in a very similar position to where Jos would play and he’s more than capable of filling that position. These two games are a good opportunity to see.
“In the past I think his fielding has overshadowed his keeping because he’s such a gun fielder.”
However, how has Bairstow - fiercely passionate and notoriously touchy when it comes to his keeping – taken the news?
“He understands the position he’s in,” says Morgan. “It’s completely different to his Test position where he’s the number one keeper. The dynamics of our one-day team are always changing and it might need to change in the lead-up to the (2019) World Cup, so having an understanding and acceptance of it is part of the game. If you can’t accept that as a player it hinders your development, potential and performance in the side so it’s important he understands that. It’s been explained to him a number of times.”
With no Stokes or Woakes either, England look set to unleash four seamers on Ireland. Liam Plunkett, Mark Wood, Jake Ball and David Willey are all coming back from injury and, unlike Steven Finn, are part of England’s Champions Trophy squad. It’s no surprise then that Morgan has indicated the aim is for that quartet to play both these matches against Ireland.
He said: “We’ve got David coming back, whose played Championship cricket and a couple of one-dayers, Liam’s coming back from a calf injury and Mark has obviously had quite a long, arduous stint back from injury so getting cricket under those guys’ belts is really important.
“These two games we earmarked for younger guys coming through, but our bowlers have been injured so they really need to play.”
Despite the fact the pitch in Bristol is not as green as England were expecting, it looks likely they will opt for four seamers. That would mean one of Moeen Ali or Adil Rashid missing out. Rashid is most likely to be the unlucky spinner.
Yet he’s likely to receive little sympathy from Morgan, whose eyes are fixed ruthlessly on the bigger picture.
Probable teams – England: Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings (keeper), Moeen Ali, Liam Plunkett, David Willey, Mark Wood, Jake Ball
Ireland: Ed Joyce, Paul Stirling, William Porterfield (capt), Niall O’Brien (keeper), Gary Wilson, Stuart Thompson, Andy McBrine, George Dockrell, Tim Murtagh, Craig Young, Barry McCarthy
Umpires: Rob Bailey (ENG), Aleem Dar (PAK) 3rd umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS) Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)
TV coverage: Sky Sports 2 (11am match start)