Morgan 200 not out for England
- Captain makes 200th ODI appearance for England in World Cup opener against South Africa
- The batsman is England’s highest ODI run-scorer
Since becoming England captain in 2014, Eoin Morgan has only ever focussed on the collective – but against South Africa, he may allow himself a moment of personal pride.
The first ball of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup has long been anticipated, the beginning of a six-week race to be crowned the best ODI side in the world.
However, for Morgan it carries extra significance as it will mark the start of his 200th ODI international for his adopted country.
Sometimes bumpy and at others euphoric, the journey from his debut against the West Indies to a third Cricket World Cup with England has been packed with highs and lows.
A ten-wicket quarter-final defeat to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup was followed up by a pool-stage exit four years later – just two months after he replaced Alastair Cook at England’s ODI wheel.
While other nations mixed a T20 approach with their 50-over ideas, England were left behind – outscored and outbowled.
But one of Morgan’s great qualities is his resilience and stubbornness. As he watched Australia march to a fifth World Cup win on home soil, he made it his mission to replicate their success in 2019.
Four years on and England are the world’s top-ranked ODI side, a title they have owned for more than a year, and arrive at a home World Cup as favourites to win.
“It's [stubbornness] probably one of the strongest sides of my personality. It's something that I use quite a lot,” he said.
“And sort of to sum up, I never dreamt as a kid that I would captain England at a home World Cup.
“I dreamt about scoring a Test match 100. I dreamt about hitting the winning runs in a World Cup final, potentially.
“But I never dreamt not even in my wildest dreams that I would captain a home World Cup.”
The opening game will mark Morgan’s 223rd one-day international. He started his career with his native Ireland, where he scored 774 runs at an average of 35.42.
But, as he put it, “From the age of 13, I wanted to play cricket for England. I’ve never felt any shame in saying this is what I wanted to do.”
His dream came true on a dreary day at Trent Bridge in 2009, where he scored just two in a six-wicket England win against the West Indies.
But the left-hander quickly found his place. With rapid hands and surprising power for a man of 5 ft 9 in, Morgan quickly gained a reputation as a quick-scoring, big-hitting run-getter.
With 11 ODI hundreds for England, his place in the middle-order has been under lock and key for much of the intervening decade. Indeed, he is England’s all-time record ODI appearance-maker and run scorer.
But Morgan’s greatest achievement is perhaps spearheading England’s transformation from outdated ODI plodders to aggressive trend-setters.
“He’s cool, he’s calm and he has the backing of his players, which is the most important,” said Kevin Pietersen, as the tournament kicked off with an opening party.
“The players have felt energised by the positivity in which he backs them but I think the most encouraging thing about this England team is Eoin allows them to fail.
“When you are allowed to fail you can play some unbelievable sport. In all walks of life, if you are allowed to make mistakes and know you are still going to get backed, that’s empowering. That is what Morgan has done.”
England have nine group games and two knock-out games to go if they are going to realise their four-year plan.
Appearance number 200 will be a sweet one for Morgan. But if he has it his way, number 210 will be beyond his wildest dreams.
