Now that the dust has settled on our dramatic World T20 campaign, it’s time to look ahead once more. There’s no doubt that the team has made really good progress in both T20 and ODI cricket over the last year, which is partially why Trevor Bayliss was appointed in the first place. At the moment it looks like the right call.
However, not everything in the garden is rosy. There are quite a few prickly issues to address – not least the future of our embattled leader, Eoin Morgan. It’s never a good sign when a coach has to come out and defend his captain (as Bayliss did on Monday). When the main defence is a skipper’s popularity in the dressing room, it only emphasises the fact that he’s struggling for runs. Thank heavens there was no mention of iron rods.
As a big fan of Eoin Morgan – a few years ago I thought he was the best ODI specialist we’d had since Neil Fairbrother – I initially set out to write an article defending him. He’s played a number of absolutely blinding innings down the years, and with the possible exception of Kevin Pietersen, Eoin was probably the first modern innovator we’ve had.
Morgan’s reverse slogs, which showed off skills learned in hurling, were a breath of fresh air when he started playing for England. He also had a cocksure attitude, an ice-cool temperament, and anything seemed possible when he was at the crease. Better still Morgan was, and probably remains, one of the best Aussie-bashers we’ve ever had. He’s scored nearly half his ODI centuries and half-centuries against the Canary Yellows.
Unfortunately however, once I’d reviewed his form over a long period of time, it became increasingly difficult for me to defend Morgan’s position. Indeed I’ve long thought that Morgan looks different at the crease these days. I’m not talking about his technique – which has gone through some bizarre changes over years – I’m referring to his disposition …
Whereas Eoin used to look uber confident, with his shoulders back and his chin firmly up, he now looks a shadow of his former self. The exuberance of youth has gone. He now seems unsure of himself and consumed with anxiety. Take his dismissal in the world T20 final: he pushed at the ball tentatively and had no idea which way it was turning. A few years ago he just would’ve whacked it.
I’m afraid the evidence supports my theory. I went back and looked at all Morgan’s international innings since the start of 2013. This might seem like a somewhat arbitrary watershed, but Morgan has played international cricket for 6 years. Therefore, by looking at his last 3 years in an England shirt, I’ve effectively studied the second half of his international career. What I found didn’t make happy reading.
Although Morgan’s overall career record in T20 internationals is still decent enough (an average of 28.6 in 62 games) his record over the last three years is poor: just 587 runs at an average of 22.6. The fact his career record is still relatively healthy shows just how good he was between his debut in 2009 and 2012.
It’s a similar story in international 50 over cricket too. Morgan’s overall record is still very respectable (an average of 37 in 160 games) but over the last three years he’s made just 1992 runs at an average of 31.1 against major nations (I’ve excluded associates). This is obviously subpar and a stark contrast to his prolific early years.
Clearly Morgan is averaging considerably less in the second half of his international career than he did in his first. Whereas a batsman should be improving and gradually reaching in his prime between the ages of 26 to 29, Eoin’s graph has gone steadily in the wrong direction. It’s all rather worrying. I really hate to say it, but it’s a pattern of long-term decline.
Although England have carried underperforming captains in the past – mainly due to a lack of alternatives – things should be different now. There’s a plethora of hungry young batsmen desperate to break into the side: the likes of James Taylor, James Vince and Sam Billings immediately spring to mind. It’s not fair to persevere with Morgan when these guys are banging down the door.
I feel that James Taylor, Notts very own pocket Barry Manilow, has been particularly unlucky. His international and domestic statistics are significantly better than the skipper’s. Whereas Morgan averages 37 in ODI cricket, Taylor averages a robust 42. It’s a similar story in List A games: Taylor averages a whopping 52 per innings whereas Morgan again averages 37. What’s more, although Taylor hasn’t yet played an international T20, he averages almost ten runs per innings more than Eoin in the NatWest Blast: 35 compared to Morgan’s 26. What more can Taylor do to get a gig?
The main argument in favour of keeping Morgan – the one somewhat predictably mentioned by Bayliss the other day – is that Eoin is worth his weight in gold as a leader. I have no idea whether this is true or not as an outsider. I imagine that Morgan is indeed well liked by his team, and I think he’s done a decent job as captain. However, he’s not Mike Brearley. His place isn’t justified by his captaincy skills alone.
Morgan made a few mistakes in the World T20 final – the failure to bowl Moeen Ali, and having mid-off up in the circle when Jordan was bowling yorkers at the death were potentially very costly. Consequently, I see no reason why Joe Root couldn’t do the job just as well. Everyone expects Root to become England test captain one day, so why not give him some leadership experience now? He’s not going to get it anywhere else.
It might seem like an odd decision to remove the captain when the team is performing well, but I see this as a natural evolutionary step rather than anything radical. Although Morgan has played an important role in England’s resurgence, I attribute the team’s change of philosophy to Bayliss not the skipper himself. After all, Morgan was also England skipper under Peter Moores.
Although I still firmly believe that Morgan has the talent to dominate in both T20i and ODI cricket as a batsman, I think he’s currently best served by taking a break from the international game. There’s no way I’d close the door on Morgs forever – he’s still only 29 years old – but I feel he needs time to get his head straight and rediscover the mojo that made him such a superb batsman.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure he can do that while he’s captaining England in two formats. Thoughts?
James Morgan
This irritates me no end.
why should ODI or T20 captaincy used as a learning school for test captaincy? This is the same bollocks that gave Cook ODI captaincy on a platter as if it was his birthright. look where it took England in 2015. (likewise Dhoni should never have been test captain based solely on ODI/T20 record)
Butler has been earmarked as future LOI/T20 captain & he is the one who should fill the role unless Root somehow demonstrates better captaincy smarts that Buter in the shortet format.
Ideally I would wait for 6 months or 1 year before 2019 WC in England & then sack Morgan & choose the new cap. By then Butler’s (or Taylor or maybe even Root) captaincy chops (in 50 over format) would be very clear I hope
Totally agree re buttler and there is no reason to lose faith in Morgan who has been one of our best an a key part of this side. Root has no experience as captain and played considerably less one day cricket (barely any not for England so has little experience of other ways). Morgan seems to be one of these types people love to doubt and write off at short notice, like wilshere Rooney etc. England won’t drop him so let’s forget about this whole post…
I haven’t written off Morgan lightly. In fact, I haven’t written him off at all. I just think he needs to step away for a bit. However, the article shows that he’s in long-term decline as a batsman. His performances over a 3 year period have not been good enough. It cannot be ignored when he’s keeping other players out of the side. Someone else could probably captain the team just as well.
Marees. Obviously T20 & ODI cricket is a completely different game strategically / tactically. However, when it comes to leadership and man management etc, it does have some relevance. These are the things that Root (or any young player with aspirations to captain the test team) can learn. Otherwise, why do so many international captains start off as limited overs captains before taking on the test role?
We have an imperfect system in England. Because our future test captains don’t play much county cricket, they have to get some captaincy experience somewhere. It’s obviously not ideal that this often comes in international limited overs cricket, but it’s better than nothing.
No no no no no. Especially root as next odi captain which eventually will be buttler. Morgan is responsible for the turn around of this England side imo. Also, I’m a Notts member and there’s no way I’d drop Morgan for Taylor. I’ve always said there’s only one place for root or Taylor and root is easily better. If you’re doubting Morgan’s ability please watch the New Zealand series last year, other than kp in SA that’s the best series I’ve seen of an English middle order player. He was awesome. Also criticising his captaincy is foolish as with any captain it’s all in hindsight. WI had all right handers and the seamers were bowling well so there was no need for moeen and the spinners were poor all tournament. The field placings were set for Jordan’s best ball and any movement is. Credit to the batsman as it so often is in one day cricket these days. In t20 I’d like buttler to bat ahead of Morgan but one day cricket morgan is more than worth the number 4 spot. Throwing out Morgan’s expertise and experience in one day cricket would be laughable. This is the same as with bell, people saw a short-medium period of a lack of form and wrote them off. Cricket is a game where most have fewer successes than failures and any esteemed statistician should allow for reasonable periods of failure when assessing batting performance. Sam billings certainly deserves a go but dropping captain now… NURSE!
Hi Dom. I’m not sure you’ve read the article carefully. The stats I’ve quoted show that Morgan has underperformed as a batsman for 3 years. That’s the whole second half of his career. This is not a short-term loss of form. It’s a long-term decline and cannot be ignored.
I initially set out to write an article supporting Morgan, but the evidence led me to the opposite conclusion I’m afraid. I would like nothing more than to see Morgan rediscover his mojo. As I said, I used to rate him very highly indeed.
But look at how the game has changed since 2013. One day batsman who bat 4-6 shouldn’t be judged on averages but by their ability to win a game. In that period there was a year or so England blatantly gave no care to odi cricket which put pressure on Morgan to captain a team as cook couldn’t be bothered and which changed from game to game which should be factored in. The modern one day game calls for only one or two guys who are your heavy run scorers and often just one of those can be in middle order and others at the top. Morgan isn’t one of these players and therefore his value is not in his average but how he effects games. Again England have been terrible for much of the last 3 years but Morgan has still had standout performances which is his role. I think your interpretation of the stats in this article is geared towards the old way of playing and hasn’t accounted for the change in the game. Which players that play in a similar mode to Morgan have a high average!!!!!
The balance of England’s side is perfect and Morgan is key to that as he is incredibly adaptable. It is my opinion that as next 2 tournaments are in England in mid summer where pitches for one day cricket are generally excellent as last year so you need at least 3/4 hitters in the middle order. England can afford this because of how good root and buttler are. Therefore I don’t see anyone who can replace him and do his role better anyway as Taylor doesn’t fit, Vince should bat top 3 and billings would require buttler to bat 4 always which in ODI I don’t think is needed or ideal. I think there cold be a place for billings at 7 as moeen is not suited to it and it is a very specialist position which moeens style doesn’t help as he has said on interview – he prefers to hit on the up over the infield as we saw leading up to the WC and therefore I don’t think we should forget about him as a one day opener. And root would definetly gain captaincy experience if we have a new domestic comp which could capitalise on this fantastic generation of one day cricketers, think, he buttler morgan pietersen Vince etc could all be likely franchise catptains
“skills learnt in Gaelic football”
I think you mean hurling….
Same thing aren’t they? it’s all Irish to me ;-)
Cheers for the heads up. Have amended.
What a thoroughly demoralizing thread! It reads rather “Establishment” and smacks of hindsight and the instant gratification much beloved of those btl at the Grauniad!
Plenty of stats James, then yet again, who said that stats are irrelevant in T20 as they do not give account or context of any particular contribution to any particular game?
As for vilifying him for not using Moeen? In the heat of that cauldron and situation would you? He obviously felt Moeen would go for plenty, and didn’t particularly trust him in the field either. This is “Team Morgan” he created in under 12 months, tell me any other “Captain” who could have done that, especially after the disastrous reign of Cook and “Team ECB” Morgan can go on to even greater achievements, he’s the most gifted short form skipper, ever. You’re comparison with Brearley is laughable!
I hope you can look back on this one day James and say this was your worst ever post…dark times!!
Wow. That was harsh Ironballs. I’ve not vilified Morgan at all. I said his captaincy has generally been pretty good. Moeen bowled very well in the semi final by the way.
I’m just questioning Morgan’s place in the side as a batsman. I discovered he’s underperformed for 3 years. That’s not the conclusion I expected to reach, or set out to find, bit it’s the one I couldn’t ignore. I want to see him get back to his best. but he’s not the player he was (according to the evidence).
Totally agree with this, Morgan’s captaincy has been brilliant. Should not analyse individual decisions that as matter of course some will be wrong but look at his most important role, getting the best out of his team mates and winning games. Both of which he has done! Typical of English to think someone from the past is always better (brearley) and fail to see value of current guy
I don’t see Morgan going anywhere until the Champions trophy is over.
Strauss backed him and after a very successful year in white ball cricket, nothing will change now.
Morgan needs cricket, I’m not sure what his plans are this summer (An IPL bench for 7 weeks I presume) but he needs to bat, he’s looked incredibly scratchy for ages now.
I can’t see why his form would have deserted him completely though. Will he play any red ball cricket?
However I’m not a big fan of Morgan and I thought there were some moments in the final that could have gone better, I’d have bowled Plunkett through and gave Ali at least 2 overs when the WI were prodding around.
But he deserves credit for the change in attitude and being flexible with the order, so the positives outweigh the negatives.
He will need to earn his place though and if you going to drop a batsmen at the moment, he’d have to go.
Hi Neil. I attribute the changes in England’s ODI and T20 fortunes / attitude to Bayliss myself. Morgan was captain in the 50 over world cup under Moores and it was a disaster.
Like you I think Morgan has done some good things and bad things as captain. He’s certainly played an important role. I just think he’s just not producing consistently enough as a batsman these days. I’d like to see what other players can offer.
I agree that Morgan needs to play more cricket. His domestic records aren’t great in all forms of the games. It’s disappointing for someone so talented.
Cook was Captain in the 50 over campaign until he was sacked, way too late, and then bad mouthed Morgan’s leadership potential! That team Morgan was shoe horned into skippering was a demoralised shambolic mess, and the other architect of that, Moore’s, was still the coach, who’s tactics were the very antithesis of what Morgan is about!!
What happened, what did Cook say about Morgan??
Why would you drop someone from ththe best batting line up we have ever had, especially one of our better players
To get a better player in, if one exists?
Because he’s not batting very well, or performing like one of our better players…
How do you attribute it to Bayliss over Morgan. Yes Bayliss clearly done well but he wasn’t there for NZ and all the players and far race have suggested that that team is exactly the one Morgan demanded and both coaches have said how little tactical input they have had. Please don’t judge him on WC, we all knew he was captain before he woke up in the big bash! None of the decisions were his – Thera no way he’d leave hales out, have Taylor at 6 and ballance at 3! Moores whole reign the decisions on selection were poor and favoured certain players.
No time for knee jerk reaction
We have a potentially very good T20/one day team. If we had a fixture tomorrow should an out of form skip have his name carved in the starting line up?
A, Oh yes. He’s great for the craic
B, Oh yes, an out of form skip is good for the development of the team
C, No,No,No, just spilt coffee on my keyboard, Damn!!!! Er.. what was the question?
D, No, he’s not good enough at the moment but may feature in the future if form is merited.
E all of the above, except D which is clearly ridiculous.
I’d go for D (which is pretty close to the post) because we need to improve. World T19 champions we may be but we lost twice, and were cozying up to defeat in three of the other four. Under Joe or Jos we move forward and build, under Morgs we may stay static. Love his batting on form and this break we’re
giving him will only make him better. Hopefully. Thanks James for some thought provoking words on a ropey Tuesday.
You’ve been at those stats again James! I never thought it was a good idea!
You agree with me don’t you Jenny? I seem to remember a certain conversation on Twitter the other day involving a few of the gang ;-)
Good blog and food for thought there, James – to be honest, I’m not sure. Give him the summer, maybe?
I’m not sure I would to be honest. I think 3 years is a big enough sample to make a decision on Morgan. I wouldn’t really expect to see an improvement in his batting now. The trend seems entrenched.
My article will no doubt surprise a few – indeed, my conclusions surprised me! However, I doubt many people have looked at things as closely as I have. When I looked at things in detail, a sure pattern emerged.
I think it’s important to look beyond a successful WT20 campaign. If we want the team to keep improving, and take the next step, everything must be looked at. I think Morgan’s form has been a bit of a problem for some time. The end of this WT20, which is the end of a cycle in some ways, is a good time to make a switch.
Of course, I hope Morgan proves me totally wrong. He certainly has the talent. But if I was a selector I wouldn’t like broader team success to let this one get swept under the carpet.
‘The end of this WT20, which is the end of a cycle in some ways, is a good time to make a switch.’
There is something in that – but if there *is* a change I wouldn’t want to burden Root, he’s doing so well (in all forms) without being encumbered with captaincy that I’d rather leave him alone at this point. Captaincy will, undoubtedly, come but now is too early, for me.
That’s fair enough. I do share your concern to a certain extent. There’s always Jos too (as an option).
I’m fairly agnostic on this so am just raising some points rather than trying to reach any definite conclusion.
Firstly, I’m not sure that who’s captain matters that much. England in the field (as Jarrod Kimber noted in his brilliant article on the tournament on cricinfo) still operate very much to a plan pre-conceived by management. The decision to open the bowling with Root, for example, seemed to come from Farbrace after there was lots of patting him on the back when Gayle was out. In that sense, I don’t think have changed that much from the Flower/Moores template – the plans may be better but I’m not at all convinced the captain is deciding that much.
Secondly, so what has Morgan done? Remove fear is the usual answer. How wouldn’t Root or Buttler (the realistic alternatives) do that? How would they pile the fear on? I’m struggling to see it.
Next, should Morgan be at his batting peak as James said? I posted some tables here a while back (looking at the data in best Moores-y fashion!) about run-scoring in relation to age. Batsmen actually peaked in the thirties. However England very much bucked that trend. Morgan could have his best years ahead or he could be suffering from premature England burn-out. You pays your money…..
The question about Root and the captaincy I find fascinating. Having the dreaded FEC designation applied to him, Root was then passed over for the 2015 WC vice-captaincy for Jos Buttler. At least one media story at the time, which had the definite feeling of a non-attributed briefing, said Root was immature and didn’t work hard enough. The latter, in particular, seems ridiculous. Root was then passed over when Strauss took over. Why? There might have been concerns about his fitness – it might be difficult to rest Root occasionally if he’s captain. There might be concerns about the captaincy affecting his form. It could be pointed out that, in this WC just gone, of the four acknowledged best younger batsmen in the world the two who weren’t also captain had stellar tournaments (Root and Kohli) where the two who were also captain underwhelmed (Smith and Williamson). However it might just be, and this is the cynical explanation, that while Morgan is no threat to the Test captain a successful Root one-day captaincy very much would be. Oh no, not that again…..
I remember Strauss said he wanted separation between the two forms (grouping odi and t20 as one). Separate captains could therefore be a must. Further, Mike atherton has talked at length about the volume of cricket and effect it has on leadership. Morgan is best when rested as last summer showed and as he has no real interest in longer form and a skilled knowledgeable expertise towards shorter form he is a key asset for this side. England don’t play white ball again for a few months and Morgan is always better after ipl, possibly because he only plays half the games due to being a middle order player when most overseas open as there they have most affect, and then has time to work on and free up his technique, as you play Morgan’s innings during a run in England side he always becomes more cramped and that’s when he looks scratchy. Athertons point is that without separation of roles players will get burnt out, there is a figure in the central contract apparently (not confirmed) of expected days in England tracksuit and roots is the higgest it can be. Burning out our biggest talent since botham wouldn’t be the best idea? Also about influence of captain it is more now than ever, as all who’ve seen first hand have seen how players and the captain especially take ownership now so I think you may be wrong to say Morgan isn’t the top man. May also be harder for new captains now as a pose to when flower was coach as flower definetly took most power
Morgan kicked into action after he was given a month off from all cricket by Strauss. His general cricket up to that point had been poor. Morgan had been the biggest failure of the 2015 World Cup because he could barely score a run and his captaincy was crippled as a result ( his sex text scandal didn’t help). Moores was blatantly making all the wrong decisions as coach. Morgan averaged 18 in the World Cup and the same in the previous 12 months in ODIs, so his captaincy was a leap of faith after the dropping of Cook. The only poorer average was Ballance with 9. Without much improvement Strauss decided to back him. After his month off Morgan was tremendous with bat and urgent with captaincy. He and Root and Buttler were the saviours of the team. Is it decline or just the intense velocity of leading England to play without fear in every game? The pressure must be enormous. From that peak Morgan has steadily struggled until his very poor batting in another world tournament only one year after his last.
His confidence was first dimmed under the tutelage of Flower who obviously disliked him and was scapegoated for the failure of England in the Test Series against Pakistan in 2012. Bell and KP failed in the middle order with Morgan and Bell was penalised with Morgan – dropped from ODIs as a punishment – and Morgan was dropped from Tests. The players couldn’t perform against spin bowler Ajmal ( who was later hauled up for chucking). Openers were luckier facing the seamers. KP famously said he never picked Ajmal even when he scored a century in the ODIs that followed.
Strauss gave Morgan a second chance. But no second chance to KP. Morgan might just need to lose the captaincy to regain his form. I would favour James Taylor as captain actually. Not popular with the fans but an excellent all round batsman. He’s a good reader of the game. Not popular either. Better to have a steely countenance than to be actually shrewd, apparently.
Agree with a lot of this, Taylor is an astute limited overs captain who will definitely lead the ODI side at some point, didn’t he do it as a one off against Ireland already?
Not sure about Flower obviously disliking Morgan though. AF did give him his Test, ODI and T20 debuts and his first shot at 50 overs captaincy. Morgan HAD to be dropped at the end of the Pakistan series, he was the worst of an abysmal bunch. Yes Bell and KP stayed in the side, but firstly they scored marginally more runs and just as importantly, had waaaay more credit in the bank as triple Ashes winners who got the team to no 1 in the world…
Morgs does need a break though. Hope he comes back strong like he has before, as you pointed out.
I find this comment very interesting especially regards to uae. I’m a Notts member and like watching him play for us however, his captaincy when he was limited overs skipper was frankly awful and this year has been relieved of it. Official word is that it’s to concentrate on England but in truth he was poor as skipper. He was totally inflexible and didn’t seem to read the game, would regularly stay with overly defensive fields and plans even when oppo were a few down early on. He’s a good player, especially mid season on tired pitched where running is more key than hitting in ODI cricket, however as I’ve said above I don’t see England playing on pitches like that and if not then having Taylor at 4 would just feel like wasting balls for buttler stokes and billings/mo. If roots injured or unavailable I think he’s next up to bat 3 but anywhere else I think the team would be unbalanced and that there are better options for those holes (billings vince malan).
Really interesting to hear that from a Notts fan who has obvs seen a lot of him. Such a shame though, I was hoping that he would add to the potential list of leadership options for England. Still remember that ridiculous situation two years ago when even those who wanted Cook sacked as skipper were struggling to find a credible alternative. I had thought he had done a reasonable job with the Lions but haven’t seen him at county level like you have, sounds like he has work to do…
He does a good job for Notts as batsman in 50 over stuff. But I don’t think he fits in the side with root at 3. Also he’s not in the top 15 t20 batsmen available either and I think the captain should be captain of both due to how close the formats are together. His batting has talent and we all know against spin he’s one of our more natural players but there are still massive technical flaws against high quality pace which would need a lot of work imo if he is to keep his test spot which I don’t think he will. I think ballance has to come into the test side and move root to 3. That leaves bell (who’ll score a truck load for warks) Vince Taylor all vying for one spot. I’d go back to bell for a few years or try Vince who seems to have one of the best all round games on the circuit. All of this means I just can’t see Taylor as 50 over captain as he is not a first choice batsman. Buttler would possibly take our game to another level and I think it’s pretty nailed on that he’s next in line. If they were to drop Morgan id like to see billings in the side at 6 with either buttler or stokes batting 4. Billings has been the best player in the domestic white ball comps for 2/3 years, the hundred he hit at Notts last summer was breathtaking
Hi James, I concur it’s time for a change. Morgan has been in decline for a while now and as a batsman lost his way. I don’t have stats but my sense is the guy hardly plays any cricket anymore. He tires himself sitting on a bench in the IPL and be interesting to see how many games he has played for Middlesex in this 3 year period, my sense is few.
Whilst he has made a positive contribution from a leadership perspective I don’t think it’s that marked. In my view the praise for this is towards Farbrace as opposed to Bayliss.
One of the stupidest things England managed in recent times was, after reaching number 1 test team, to sit back and say these are our best players – job finished.
Great achievement in the T20 tournament. Now it is time to consider how we can do better. Well done James. At least you are addressing that. Morgan’s batting is not good enough. Why wouldn’t anyone want to think about making an improvement?
James, I don’t think you can just look at averages when judging 20/20 players, particularly not those who bat lower than 3. Batsmen in the middle order don’t get enough balls to face and don’t get any opportunity to play themselves in – combine those factors and you just can’t build much of an average (and if you look at the list of highest career averages in T20 on Cricinfo you’ll see that only 24 batsmen who have played 20 innings have averaged 30 or more – what’s an ordinary average in FC cricket is good in T20. Of those 24, 23 average in the 30s, with only Virat Kohli way out on his own on top nearing 60 – a Bradmanesque 50% better than his nearest rival).
You have to factor in strike rate as well. Mike Hussey was quoted on Cricinfo recently saying a metric his Big Bash team looks at (which came from I think Nathan Astill or Craig McMillan in NZ) is to add a player’s average and strike rate. A combined figure of 160 puts you in the very good player category. Again, run down the most runs scored list in Cricinfo, do that calculation, and that 160 figure looks about right. Career wise, Morgan is a tiny fraction over 160. Whether that’s slipped in recent times I don’t know. If it has, that may mean something – or it may just reflect the hit and miss nature of T20 (itself demonstrated quite strikingly in recent times by WI winning the world event and England getting to the final!).
Like this, they called it ‘the index’ on sky and is a reasonable indicator given those who bat lower down need to score faster whilst top order players still need a degree of consistent high scores when set. Morgan’s record is very good, feel we try to find problems in England that often aren’t there. To improve this side Finn and mills would go along way. Thought woakes has also been excellent in coloured kit too. Think dropping any of this batting line up would send the wrong message and contradict all values of the team. They’ve performed and had right attitude.
World cups gone now, build for the next one so if he’s not performing.. Get another in. No room for sentiment in sport and he’s not been performing for a long while
Morgan seems to be a real player of peaks and troughs. Last summer in the ODI format he seemed to find his form again after a real lean period that came to a head at the 50 overs world cup. I was surprised that he kept his place to be honest, but he was backed and then had a fine summer. However he has had a poor limited overs winter and the idiosyncratic changes to his batting over time hint at confusion over his method. At 29 he is rather young to write off although the discussion over his merit in the side would simply be based on whether you think he’s still one of the best 6 upper order players available to England at this moment and you might argue that come the summer limited overs games v Sri Lanka that he might not be. I am one who believes that you pick your best players and then pick your captain. Therefore if he remains bench bound in the IPL as he has done in previous seasons then England should think long and hard before selecting him for the summer.
With regards to his captaincy I tend to agree that most tactics in t20 are rather premeditated as it is a little too difficult to make substantive changes in the middle of the game as there is no real time to think it through and even a couple of overs can make such changes seem redundant. Yet I doubt they’ll make too many changes to the t20 squad bar perhaps a player here or there, as the next tournament is now 4 years away. As for the 50 overs side, again I don’t think they’ll be too many changes so I think we are stuck with him for now, whether he might deserve his place in the side or not. After all England were far too slow, as mentioned above, to get rid of Cook from the ODI side.
I remember that previous piece as it’s the last time I ever commented on here.
I’ll just quote from last time as it still holds…
‘His loss of form seems more a loss of the early vivacity with which he played. He was all wristy cross-bat shots and virtuoso reverses back then. I suspect that it was his test failures in the UAE and against Ajmal in particular that spooked him.
His technique grew more jilted and jumpy with that exaggerated crouch emerging. It’s taken him a while to get his form back. And he seems a different player now. More inclined to hit straight and far rather than the pyrotechnics and how-did-he-do-that of old.’
As a player he just looks shot these days. Too keen to go big when his strength early on was hitting gaps and then unleashing only when he had to. In some ways he was an old-fashioned one-day player, brilliantly innovative but a touch player of brilliance rather than just a biffer.
The failure to get Taylor into the ODI side seems absurd when you look at his average.
And for the few commenters on here saying Andy Flower didn’t like him you have to consider Flower brought him in in 2009, making his debut along with Trott and Rashid.
Morgan also played by far his best cricket under Flower in the 2010/11 era.
I think you’ve come in for a bit of undeserved flack for this James. The fact that you had an idea in mind for an article but had the objectivity to rethink your position based on your investigations should be commended.
My thoughts are that there are a couple of factors here – Morgan’s historic performance (both pre/post captaincy), his potential future performance, and the alternatives (both current and a bit further down the lines).
Regards historic batting – he has always struck me as a match-winning player. When he’s on song only Buttler compares with his ability to devastate an opposition (although in fairness the likes of Roy and Stokes are approaching this group). I recall a real resurgence in his form when he took the captaincy but it does sound like he’s having an extended bad run which is affecting his confidence. Perhaps swapping with Buttler in the order would help where the onus is on hitting out or getting out (his innings in the final was quite painful to watch).
I have a very positive impression of his captaincy. He appears to have a good tactical knowledge and feel for the shorter format, carries himself with dignity, and appears to have helped instill a real togetherness in the team. Of course it’s always difficult to judge how much influence and merit a captain actually has, but from my “softer” observance to me he seems to have done a commendable job. I also like the fact that he is focussed on the shorter format and would in principle probably prefer any T20 / ODI captain to not be involved in tests.
Agree that just because something is / has been working to date, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make tough decisions to continue to evolve / move forwards. Good captaincy won’t save an extended run of bad batting performance / decline indefinitely. Which leads me to my final point – alternatives?
Firstly Root. Our number one player across all three formats. Truth be told I’m not totally convinced that he would necessarily make a good test captain (not suggesting he wouldn’t either though, just haven’t seen the evidence yet one way or another and it does seem to be assumed that he will replace Cook). He’s such a fundamental player that I slightly dread when he is given the captaincy as his workload is already very high as it is. Would prefer not to see him take it on T20 as I feel there are more viable alternatives there. The argument about giving him captaincy experience is valid; however I think we’ve got more to lose than gain at this stage.
Buttler for me is a more obvious candidate. Clearly a fantastic player that can lead by example; at the moment doesn’t have the focus of the tests to distract; appears to have a good understanding of the shorter format.
Taylor needs to be in and playing to be considered – I think he has what it takes for all three formats actually so might be a candidate a year down the line.
If his batting never recovers my preference would be for Buttler to take the T20 captaincy and James Taylor into the batting line up. But I think Morgan deserves another 12 months to nail whether it is a temporary or permanent decline.
Cheers Jamie. Good thoughts. And thanks to everyone for all your comments. It has turned into an excellent debate with lots of good thinking on both sides of the argument.
Just to make it clear, I’d like nothing more than for Morgan to come back strongly and make loads of runs. I’ve always been a fan. I’m just concerned that he looks bereft of confidence these days.
I believe the selectors have a decision to make on Eoin. If I was in the meeting I’d very reluctantly support a decision to rest him for a while and look in a new direction. It would be a very tough call though.
It’s slightly frustrating that Angus Fraser is one of the people making the decision. I’m not sure it’s possible for him to be truly objective though. He’s in a tough spot. But maybe that’s a debate for another day :-)
I find that Howstat’s graphs are useful for seeing long term form:
ODIs: http://www.howstat.com.au/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerBatGraph_ODI.asp?PlayerID=3416
T20I: http://www.howstat.com.au/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerBatGraph_T20.asp?PlayerID=3416
In T20s, there is a clear downwards trend, though games can be so infrequent that trends are less relevant than the other formats. In ODIs it’s been a bit feast and famine, but he had an excellent summer last year (probably overshadowed by Root and Buttler’s form) so although he’s had a poor winter there is clearly more than enough credit in the bank.
I definitely agree about his appearance and style at the crease – it’s not what it was when he first broke into the side. But we may see that happen to our other young players as they grow older?
I think in T20s Buttler should definitely be above Morgan now, and probably ODIs too.
On Morgan and Flower, I don’t think that dropping a player means a coach doesn’t like him. England were really keen to give Morgan a go in Tests despite a modest first class record, but once he played it didn’t really look a long term option and so they dropped him. He’s always been backed in the shorter formats.
And as a fully-paid up member of the Taylor fan club, I’d love to find a way of getting him in the ODI first choice XI, but without them dropping an all-rounder and losing the 6th proper bowling option, I don’t see it happening soon unfortunately. He’ll probably end up captaining the ODI against Scotland (I think we’re playing them instead of Ireland at some point) and maybe he’ll get a series if they rotate.
Well this final match will be remembered in the history as one of the most exciting finishing in a world cup final … Supper hitters till 9 with Bathwite coming there .. All sixes no fours :
http://www.dailymotion.com/stats/v4ven007/video/x427l0i_icc-wt20-final-england-vs-westindies-2016-match-highlights_sport
On the new Switch Hit podcast, George Dobell predicts Root will be Test captain by the end of the year. Dobell has been very well-connected in the past and not often wrong.
He also predicts that the ten-team WC plan for 2019 is going to scrapped and an announcement to that effect will be made before the end of the month. As Giles Clarke was reportedly the strongest backer of ten teams that would be a real marker that his clout is on the wane. Fingers crossed!
The when does Root take over from Cook debate is a interesting one.
I had this debate on Twitter about a month ago, and the common theory was that after a heavy defeat in India that would be the right time.
You’d think Root must get a decent run at the job before the Ashes away – or Cook must lead the team in Australia. (Mentioning Australia the details of their next domestic season emerged yesterday – the Gabba has lost the first test and are there two D/N Tests?).
One idea (which was what they did with Cook) would be for Root to captain in Bangladesh – but Root probably needs to be rested from that series more than Cook. The way Bangladesh are improving I’m not sure England can take it for granted either.
I’ve picked up the impression they think it’s better for a new captain to debut overseas because there is less media pressure on tour. I’m too convinced by that.
Yeah . odd that, surely the best place to start your England captaincy tenure is at Lords in May