Eoin Morgan making his test debut against Bangladesh
The English selectors announced a twelve-man line-up for the opening test match against minnows Bangladesh, slated to start on Thursday, May 27. After a blistering Twenty20 season, English wicketkeeper Eoin Morgan has been called up for his maiden test debut against Bangladesh. Morgan has the experience of fifty-three limited over games under his belt. Another uncapped player that has caught the selectors’ eye is Middlesex’s Steven Finn, who impressed the English selectors following a successful Test debut in Bangladesh during the winter, and an impressive start to the Middlesex domestic season.
Eoin Morgan has gained his spot after his match winning performances in the limited over format. Thus English National Selector Geoff Miller has full confidence that he will make his mark in the longer version of the game. Miller said Morgan had rightfully earned a spot in the test team. “He has always held ambitions of playing across all forms of the game and we believe he has earned his place in this test squad” he was quoted as saying. (http://www.thesportscampus.com/201005235294/test-cricket/england-name-12-man-squad-for-1st-npower-test-match)
Changes in the English team have also occurred courtesy new coach Andy Flower, under whose watchful eye the British boys lifted the World Twenty20 trophy. The day that changed Morgan’s future and eventual acceptance into the test cricket mould could possibly have been that sultry evening in Dhaka some three months ago, when he was out to impress not just the selectors but the 30,000 strong Bangladeshi crowd. As the run rate crept up, so did Morgan’s tempo, which won the battle of nerves with an unbeaten century that, saw England home with seven balls to spare.
However, it’s not a fair assessment to judge his performance in light of the fact that the team they were facing were the true underdogs of the game. It was his strategies and change thereof that made him succeed. The track in Dhaka and the humid conditions were best suited for spinners, but using his brain and changing face of his bat made Morgan a well-suited candidate for the test team. The opponents are the same, but conditions very different.
Now that Morgan has been considered worthy of a test call, the real examination is survival in a pool of new talent. Performances from the likes of newbies such as Craig Kieswetter and another Twenty20 discovery Michael Lumb will keep Morgan on his toes and continuously striving to climb up the ladder of great performances. Another point to consider is the difference in the formats; the adrenalin pumping action will no longer be a factor in the test format. It will be the gruelling, long hours that Morgan will have to put in to climb the scoring graph. The crash, bang and wallop will have to be replaced by a slow and steady innings.
Some pundits argue that he has been called in as a replacement for Paul Collingwood, who will miss both the tests against Bangladesh, undergoing a period of rehabilitation for a shoulder injury he picked up during the World Twenty20. If that is the case, then Morgan has to give a solid performance to make sure he is not just treated as a backup, but actually makes a permanent place for him in the line-up.
The test call has made Morgan make a few changes to his thought process as well. Last season his comments made it to the media circles that he found the longer format boring. But defending him, Angus Fraser, director of Middlesex Cricket, said Morgan was beaming and chuckling the whole day after finding out he had made it to the squad. Morgan has had a fairytale run in cricketing career. He made history by earlier playing international cricket for Ireland and then being picked to play for the English side. And that’s not all: he is the only player to have scored a century for two nations. So what is left to see is whether Morgan can turn another page in the history of his career by making a mark on the test circuit?
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