Eoin Morgan is the man who took England from World Cup embarrassment in 2015 to World Champions in 2019.
The Irishman who is England’s highest One Day International (ODI) run-scorer revolutionised the way England plays the white ball format with their attacking talent paving the way for exciting ODI cricket.
Through a string of changes and brutal team selection Eoin Morgan turned England into the number one ranked ODI and T20 ranked side respectively.
2015 Embarrassment Spurs ECB Into Change
After England were knocked out of the World Cup devastatingly. It spurred the England Cricket Board (ECB) into action. England who was expected to go far in the tournament succumbed to four defeats.
England was drawn into a tough group containing Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Scotland. For England, their batters and bowlers crumbled. England suffered heavy losses at the hands of bitter rivals Australia and New Zealand.
Following on from the disaster in Australia, the ECB backed Eoin Morgan and allowed him to remain in the captaincy. This was a huge call as many expected the ECB to move on from the Irishman. Crucially, this allowed Morgan to get younger players into the side.
England’s Squad for the 2015 World Cup was Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, and Stuart Broad. As well as Jos Buttler (wk.), Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan (capt), Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.
The senior players failed on the biggest stage. Eoin Morgan would have expected his side to progress from the group stages.
Younger and Exciting Talent Given Ample Opportunity Post-2015
Eoin Morgan made the easy decision to move on from several players after the World Cup. Anderson, Ballance, Bell, Broad, Bopara, Taylor and Tredwell never featured for England again in ODI cricket. Players like Jason Roy and Ben Stokes were given an opportunity in the team.
Players such as Adil Rashid were selected due to the immense talent the Yorkshire man had. Mark Wood was selected to give England the X factor they needed in terms of raw pace and speed.
Over the years England formed a stable team with two attacking openers Jason Roy and Alex Hales. Joe Root and Eoin Morgan would stabilise the side batting at number three and four. With the attacking trio of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Ali to provide the firepower at the end of the innings.
The bowling unit consisted of Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Liam Plunkett, and Mark Wood. It gave Eoin Morgan a welcome selection headache. At his disposal, he had a young side with immense talent quality backup and depth in the team.
Finally, what Eoin Morgan established was a bunch of players who were all-rounders in terms of players who could both bat and bowl. This included Stokes, Ali, Root, Woakes and Rashid so England could continue to accelerate at the backend of an innings. This is something other international teams didn’t have at their disposal and was key to Morgan’s reign.
England’s Attacking Approach Changes ODI Cricket
In the build-up to the 2019 World Cup Eoin Morgan wanted his team to continue to play the attacking brand of cricket that they had instilled in the past four years. England’s playstyle consisted of the openers attacking the bowlers almost immediately from the first ball and never allowing them control of the game.
Joe Root would be the stabiliser of the innings batting through the innings. This allowed the attacking players to unload at the end. This approach saw England reach scores of 300 plus consistently and change the landscape of ODI cricket. As well as this England reached 400 and beat the highest score set in the format.
The current highest score in ODI cricket is the enormous 498 runs England made against the Netherlands. England also holds the second and third-place record. This approach from England forced other teams to rethink their tactics and adopt England’s methods.
Prior, to England’s attacking approach, many teams would ‘see off’ the new ball and look to rotate the strike for around thirty overs without losing many wickets. Then in the last twenty overs teams would go all out and attack and get their score to around 280/300 plus.
With England attacking from the first to the last over teams had to change their whole style to keep with Morgan’s side. This approach saw England rise to being the number one ranked side in ODI cricket for the first time.
Morgan’s Captaincy Made England World Champions in 2019
Eoin Morgan has always been a wise and forward-thinking captain, making crucial decisions at the right time has served the former Middlesex player well in his England captaincy.
Before the 2019 World Cup took place Morgan had two key decisions to make. Key batsman Alex Hales had failed a recreational drugs test when stopped by police, Morgan made the decision that Hales wouldn’t be part of the squad and the Nottingham player would never play for England under Eoin Morgan.
Jofra Archer was another welcome dilemma England had, the Sussex player had shone in various leagues across the world. Ultimately, the decision was made that David Willey wouldn’t make the England squad.
At the time, it was a big decision as Willey had been a mainstay in the side since the 2015 disappointment and was key to England’s turnaround in fortunes. In the end, it was the right choice with Archer bowling the super over that led England to victory.
Image Credit: Eoin Morgan of England | Ben Sutherland | Flickr
