Eoin Morgan Retires: Career Highs of the Man Behind England's White-Ball Revamp

Eoin Morgan is the only cricketer to feature in England's 2010 T20 World Cup and 2019 ODI World Cup wins.

England's World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan has retired recently owing to fitness issues and poor form.

(Photo: IANS)

9 March 2015. England got humbled by Bangladesh and ousted from the 50-over World Cup group stage.

Pundits and former players gave out a war cry demanding a complete overhaul of England's white-ball structure. They reckoned England's style of playing limited-overs cricket was old-fashioned and lacked vigour. Many experienced cricketers had to bear the brunt of this tectonic shift and got axed.

The England Cricket Board entrusted Eoin Morgan with the role of England's white-ball captaincy despite the World Cup debacle under his leadership.

With Morgan at the helm of affairs, England never looked back. They kept churning out result after result with their aggressive brand of cricket. The greatest was England finally getting their hands on the 50-over World Cup trophy for the first time, in 2019.

Morgan scored 7,701 ODI runs at an average of 39.29, 2,458 T20I runs at an average of 28.58 and 700 runs from 16 Tests. As England's white-ball captain retires from international cricket, let's look at the Irishman's stellar career achievements.

Highest Runs in Under-19 World Cup

Eoin Morgan took to the U-19 World Cup like a duck to water. The southpaw featured in Ireland's squads for their 2004 and 2006 U-19 World Cup campaigns. In these two editions, he piled up 606 runs from 13 matches at an average of 50.50. The batter scored two hundreds and three fifties in these events, becoming the highest ever U-19 World Cup run-scorer.

Morgan couldn't replicate his U-19 form at the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, as he managed just 91 runs from nine innings while batting at 3 for Ireland. On the back of his county exploits for Middlesex, he was always on English selectors' radar. Having made 23 ODI appearances for Ireland, Morgan switched allegiance to England in 2009 after helping his former team qualify for the 2011 ODI World Cup.

England’s Most Successful White-Ball Captain

Eoin Morgan was synonymous with tactical shrewdness. His hallmark was giving licence to his players to go all guns blazing no matter what the situation of a match was.

The fearless England side under Morgan posted 300-plus ODI totals at will, amassing the top three totals in the 50-over format: 498/4, 481/6 and 444/3.

In his 126 ODIs as the England skipper, he has a win percentage of 60 percent. With 76 victories under his belt, the 35-year-old possesses the best win record by any England men's ODI captain.

Having captained his side 72 times in T20Is, the joint highest number of games equalling MS Dhoni, Morgan holds the record for winning the most T20Is (42) as skipper.

In an article for Sky Sports, former England skipper Nasser Hussain praised Morgan, saying he gave players security as a captain. According to Hussain, it's his composure in tight situations that made him special.

"Morgan picked players but also gave them that carefree, no-fear cricket that they absolutely loved. You speak to every player that has played under him and they loved playing for him. That is all you can really ask for as a captain. It's not a popularity contest, but they would look to Morgan on a number of occasions in difficult times. It's what I liked about him. In the chaos that is white-ball cricket, Morgan just kept that cool, calm, and calculated demeanour."

Nasser Hussain, Former England Captain

During his seven-year captaincy stint of the white-ball team, he took England to number one in the ICC world rankings and finished as a finalist and semi-finalist in two successive T20I World Cups. But the jewel in the crown was England's maiden ODI World Cup win at the Lord's in 2019, Morgan becoming the only England captain to do so.

England's Highest Run Aggregator in ODIs and T20Is

As a batsman, Morgan was way ahead of his time. A terrific player of spin, Morgan would play the reverse-sweeps and reverse-scoops much before they even became a trend. When on song, the left-hander was a treat to watch. The swashbuckling cricketer was the first batter to score centuries for two different countries. He smashed his maiden ODI ton in Irish colours against Canada and his first hundred for England came against Bangladesh.

The Dublin-born batter is England's highest run-getter and the most-capped player for them in ODIs and T20Is. In his record-breaking 225 ODI appearances for England, Morgan has raked up 6,957 runs at an average of 39.75 with 13 centuries. His tally of 42 half-centuries donning the Three Lions is the most by any England player.

With 115 T20I caps for England, the World Cup winning captain has scored 2,458 runs in the format at an average of 28.58 with 14 fifties for the country.

"You've also got to remember Morgan, the player. He was revolutionary. He was playing all the shots we see now long before others were; reverse-sweeping, reverse-scooping and being dynamic. At his best, he was absolutely destructive."

Nasser Hussain, Former England Captain

A Brilliant Six-Hitter: Most Number of Sixes in an ODI

There are a few clean ball-strikers as Morgan when he's at his bludgeoning best. During a 2019 World Cup match against Afghanistan, the hard-hitter took the Afghan bowlers to the cleaners. He decimated the opposition, smashing 17 sixes en route 148 off 71 balls, his highest ODI score. Riding on that fiery innings, Morgan became the batter to hit most sixes in an ODI innings.

With 202 ODI sixes in his tally, Morgan owns the record for the maximum sixes as an England international in the 50-over format. The pugnacious batter has also slammed 120 T20I sixes, the highest-ever by an England cricketer. He holds the fourth spot behind Martin Guptill (165), Rohit Sharma (155), and Chris Gayle (124) for hitting the most sixes in the T20I format.