Eoin Morgan’s form slump casts dark shadow over England’s future

Eoin Morgan took centerstage on the celebrated evening of July 14, 2019, driving England to their first ever World Cup win. Hailed as a white-ball specialist, the English legend is already his country’s most decorated ODI and T20I batsman.

Past glory aside, the Ireland-born cricketer is currently struggling to put bat to ball. His twin ducks at Amstelveen against the Netherlands, an associate nation, marks his latest set of failures, thus extending his noiseless spell in white-ball cricket.

Form check: Captain Morgan needs runs for country’s sake

In the first of the three ODI series against the Netherlands, the touring English party amassed 498-4 off 50 overs, a world record in ODIs. In the very next game, openers Jason Roy and Phil Salt orchestrated an effortless run-chase, chasing down hosts 235 with almost 14 overs to spare.

While the rest of his batting teammates are feasting off the hapless Dutch bowlers, captain Morgan piled up two ducks, including a golden one in the first match.

His lack of form dates back to January’s Caribbean trip. In the two T20Is he played against the West Indies, the dynamic left-hander only managed scores of 13 and 17.

Morgan also had a quite time with the bat at the T20 World Cup last year. Moreover, despite starting out as tournament favourites, England lost to New Zealand in a lop-sided semi-final under his guidance. 

Apart from being overlooked by all IPL 2022 franchises, the Middlesex cricketer is also yet to make any expressive contribution in the ongoing T20 Blast season.

England, carrying the tag of reigning ODI Champions, will head into another T20 World Cup as one of the top contenders of the event. While the tournament is just four months away and is slated to be played in Australia, Morgan’s side will be banking on their captain’s batting form, just as much as they bank on his leadership talents on the field.

England’s roadmap for the T20 World Cup constitutes home series against India and South Africa in July, immediately after heading back home from the Netherlands.

As groundworks for the tournament will begin to heat up, the Three Lions will take a trip to Pakistan for an unusual and unheard seven-match T20I series. The preparations for the event will come to a conclusion with a fitting set of white-ball matches in Australia.

With a total of 9 ODIs and 16 T20Is on offer for England spread across four different series before the main event, the middle-order batter will be aiming to come up clutch for his country just at the right time.

In the meantime, the 2019 World Cup alumnus can hope for the next best thing: take one match at a time and make rapid runs in the middle overs in the very next inning he plays.

England’s white-ball series against the visiting Indians will commence with a set of three T20I matches on July 7.