England skipper Eoin Morgan retires from international cricket

The rumours of Eoin Morgan wanting to hang up his boots have turned out to be of substance, with the England Cricket Board confirming that their greatest limited-overs player is officially retiring from international cricket with immediate effect, as of June 28, 2022.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) can confirm that England Men’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan has retired from international cricket with immediate effect. Morgan is the all-time leading run-scorer and most-capped player for England Men in both ODI and T20I matches,” reads an official release by ECB.

The news comes as a shock to the cricketing fraternity since Morgan was inarguably the game’s best ODI and T20I captain, at least in the last decade or so.

‘Morgs’ led the Three Lions in 126 One Day internationals and 72 T20 internationals, bagging 77 and 44 wins in the respective formats.

From getting knocked out in 2015 ODI World Cup by Bangladesh, to making it to the final of 2016 T20 WC and lifting the 2019 ODI World Cup; England’s white-ball game underwent a seismic change during Eoin’s tenure which also included a semi-final finish in the latest edition of T20 WC.

However, more than the trophy rush, it was the shift in the team’s approach to limited-overs cricket that defined Morgan’s time at the helm. In a brave move that stripped his side of established but not-LOI-fit names in James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Ian Bell- Eoin Morgan built a ‘New England’.

Conservative cricket was brushed aside, and room for not-holds-barred approach was made. The new crop of players was backed through failures and given ample opportunities to prove themselves. The result was there to see for the critics, as England crossed the 300-run-mark in 53 of the 126 separate One Day internationals that they played between 2015 and 2022.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t just the leadership of Morgan that helped England. Scoring at 44.03 and 40.40 in ODIs and T20Is respectively, he was equally effective with the bat. And it was the drop in this effectiveness of Morgan the-batsman that forced a premature retirement.

In his last 33 LOI innings, the southpaw could score 50 or more on just a solitary occasion, averaging an underwhelming 24.27 runs per dismissal.

In the last year, he was also on and off as the leader of the side owing to persistent fitness issues; the most recent of which was the groin strain that had ruled him out of the third and final one-day game against Netherlands.

His willow and his body weren’t helping him.

Thus, being the selfless man he has always been, Morgan decided to step away from the international scene, but not without leaving his side in a much better state than when he took over 7½ years ago.

“I am hugely proud of what I have achieved, but what I will cherish and remember most are the memories I made with some of the greatest people I know,” Eoin Morgan was quoted as saying on the official Twitter handle of England Cricket Board.