BATSMAN Eoin Morgan was dropped from the English Test side today.
You can't really argue with the decision. In six Test innings in the United Arab Emirates Morgan made a grand total of 82 runs at 13.67 - useful runs from a number 10, not so good from your number 6. His poor form then continued into the One-Day and Twenty20 internationals, meaning that his time in the whites and England Three Lions cap were over for now.
It's all bad news for Morgan; as this article says, he is a major part of England's limited overs teams, including for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this year. That's after he plays Indian Premier League for Kolkatta.
This is undoubtedly in the best interests of both Morgan and the England cricket team. But is it in the best interests of cricket as a whole?
You see, Morgan isn't English. A born-and-bred Dubliner, Morgan made his first-class debut for Ireland back in 2004 and his ODI debut for Ireland in 2006 (both matches coincidentally against Scotland). After rising up through the ranks of English county side Middlesex, Morgan was eventually made his England debut in a ODI match against the West Indies in 2009, oddly enough a mere month-and-a-half after he played his last one for Ireland (where he scored a match-winning 84* against Canada). His Twenty20 debut came for England against the Netherlands in 2009 after his English ODI debut.
Ireland play ODI and Twenty20 international cricket. They're very good and getting better, currently ranked 11th in ODI cricket and 9th in Twenty20 cricket, ahead of Test nations Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. That's not bad for a country that only made its ODI debut in 2006 and that is looking to gain Test status by 2020.
What will help Ireland - and other "minnow" teams - succeed is playing their best XI all the time. That shouldn't be to the detriment of those who want to play Test cricket, but rather working with them. What needs to happen is a system whereby once a player declares his limited-overs allegiance to a team, he stays playing for them for his career. If a player then finds himself good enough to be picked for a Test team, that's fantastic. They can go on and play cricket at the highest level, but still play for their Associate or Affiliate side, sharing their experiences with local players.
Perhaps the best example of this was Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes. Having given up hope of Australian selection he decided to make use of a Dutch passport, playing in The Netherlands' shock win over England in 2009. This seemingly spurred the Australian selectors into action, picking him for a grand total of one ODI and 15 Twenty20's. Given the depth at Australia's disposal, wouldn't that skill have been better used with the lower-ranked team he began with?
For now though, Morgan will still play his all international cricket for England. As Ed Smith wrote, this is the first time he's really had to come back from adversity. If nothing else, this should be interesting to watch.
But wouldn't the story be that much richer if the comeback came dressed in green?
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Monday 20 February 2012
Goodbye Ricky
WATCHED Ricky Ponting's last ever one-day international live last night.
Of course, we didn't know it was going to be his last. It's not often the captain - albeit a stand-in one - gets dropped straight after leading his side to a crushing victory against the world champions.
The determination was there. When Ponting came out to bat he wasn't so much facing India as facing up to his own mortality; watching the ball onto the bat as if he knew that one false stroke would be the end of him. It wasn't even the false stroke that got him either: on another day with slightly less riding on it the ball would undoubtedly have sailed over the fielder's head for six, another contemptuous shot from a man with all the skills.
PONTING'S demise as an ODI player doesn't just signal more change for the Australia cricket team: for many of us it's the passing of an era. I can still remember Ponting's Test debut at the WACA in December 1995. The match itself started two days after my 15th birthday, but I wasn't excited by the 20-year-old debutant: like most parochial Queenslanders I was more excited at seeing Stuart Law finally get his first baggy green. Both debutants made their mark with a 121-run stand that only ended courtesy of a decision that Wisden described as having "cruelly denied a hundred". Law made 54* - and was promptly dropped for the next Test in Melbourne. This left those of us north of the border particularly unimpressed that this youngster could just mosey on in and take his spot, notwithstanding the youngster passing judgement himself.
Fast forward a few years and Ponting drifted in and out of the Australian team the way I drifted through two different university courses. That Ponting had talent was undeniable; that he was having troubles channeling that talent (and dealing with turbanned off-spinners) in no doubt either. Still the talent was there, and with far-sighted selectors sticking with him Ponting's batting took off so successfully that by the time I'd started working a proper adult job, he'd led Australia to a remarkable 2003 Cricket World Cup win without the banned Shane Warne.
It's Ponting's dealings with adversity that best sums up the man though. Who of us would admit publicly to having an alcohol problem in their early 20s when getting ragingly drunk is pretty much the Australian way at that age; who of us would then be able to beat that problem? Even in the Ashes losses of 2005, 2009 and 2010/11 Ponting was quick to acknowledge that England had simply played better: sound advice for young men trying to find someone, something - anything - to blame other than themselves.
So now Ponting's ODI career is over; his Test career can't be too far behind. For those of us of a certain age watching friends get married, have children and acquire mortgages, it's as though that free-spirited chapter of our lives has been closed off as well. And as much as we might have willed that ball to pop out of Irfan Pathan's hands had we known, I guess we always knew this day would come.
Of course, we didn't know it was going to be his last. It's not often the captain - albeit a stand-in one - gets dropped straight after leading his side to a crushing victory against the world champions.
The determination was there. When Ponting came out to bat he wasn't so much facing India as facing up to his own mortality; watching the ball onto the bat as if he knew that one false stroke would be the end of him. It wasn't even the false stroke that got him either: on another day with slightly less riding on it the ball would undoubtedly have sailed over the fielder's head for six, another contemptuous shot from a man with all the skills.
PONTING'S demise as an ODI player doesn't just signal more change for the Australia cricket team: for many of us it's the passing of an era. I can still remember Ponting's Test debut at the WACA in December 1995. The match itself started two days after my 15th birthday, but I wasn't excited by the 20-year-old debutant: like most parochial Queenslanders I was more excited at seeing Stuart Law finally get his first baggy green. Both debutants made their mark with a 121-run stand that only ended courtesy of a decision that Wisden described as having "cruelly denied a hundred". Law made 54* - and was promptly dropped for the next Test in Melbourne. This left those of us north of the border particularly unimpressed that this youngster could just mosey on in and take his spot, notwithstanding the youngster passing judgement himself.
Fast forward a few years and Ponting drifted in and out of the Australian team the way I drifted through two different university courses. That Ponting had talent was undeniable; that he was having troubles channeling that talent (and dealing with turbanned off-spinners) in no doubt either. Still the talent was there, and with far-sighted selectors sticking with him Ponting's batting took off so successfully that by the time I'd started working a proper adult job, he'd led Australia to a remarkable 2003 Cricket World Cup win without the banned Shane Warne.
It's Ponting's dealings with adversity that best sums up the man though. Who of us would admit publicly to having an alcohol problem in their early 20s when getting ragingly drunk is pretty much the Australian way at that age; who of us would then be able to beat that problem? Even in the Ashes losses of 2005, 2009 and 2010/11 Ponting was quick to acknowledge that England had simply played better: sound advice for young men trying to find someone, something - anything - to blame other than themselves.
So now Ponting's ODI career is over; his Test career can't be too far behind. For those of us of a certain age watching friends get married, have children and acquire mortgages, it's as though that free-spirited chapter of our lives has been closed off as well. And as much as we might have willed that ball to pop out of Irfan Pathan's hands had we known, I guess we always knew this day would come.
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