Its been said elsewhere that Eoin Morgan, he of the rubber wrists and super-humanly cool temperament, is a dark horse for the Ashes squad when England head back down under hoping to retain the Little Urn come November. I'd go further than that and say they should buy his ticket now and hope BA don't go on strike.
This is what those rubber wrists are capable of!
As I've said before, his record in the longer form of the game isn't startlingly good, but neither is it bad, and I keep forgetting that he's only 23, he's barely getting started!
His 110 off 104 balls yesterday was a match winner, and a stunning one at that. It required a cool head and plenty of thought. He couldn't go out thrashing from ball one because of the pace of the pitch and the situation. What England have been lacking recently is just that, players who can play the situation.
One of the key reasons why Collingwood has become a player of such enormous worth is his ability to change the way he plays according to the situation - Morgan has that ability too. He might start his innings with a strike rate of 50 from the first 20 balls, but he does that because he knows he can accelerate past a strike rate of 200 later in the innings.
If he can adapt and play with such an apparently cool temperament (as much as this sort of thing can ever be tested in limited overs games), why shouldn't he be able to adapt his game for test cricket? The pressure cooker of Ashes cricket in Australia is the ultimate test of what a player has up top, and I for one think Eoin Morgan is up to the task.
Also, he's not English, which seems to stand you in good stead for selection for England of late!
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6 months ago
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Surely give him a bit more time before selecting him for that kind of challenge? Like you say yourself he is only 23.
There is a reasonably strong argument to be made for the fact that its throwing him in at the deep end, but I just think his sheer talent and destructive potential - we don't have much of that in our test side - will make him difficult to ignore. Of course if all the incumbent test players perform well over the summer there won't be a spot spare in the squad. It that is the case I still think he should go as a spare batsman.
I should also add that I hope he gets a chance in four day cricket for Middlesex this season, this will give him the opportunity to prove his worth in the longer form, albeit at a much lower level than tests! Of course if he fails spectacularly to adapt to the four day game, then my enthusiasm may be curbed slightly! I don't see that happening if he gets the opportunity though.
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