Morgan pulls out
Eoin Morgan has again pulled out of an Ireland ODI at the last minute, this time citing an alleged “knee injury” that needs a scan. I say alleged, because Morgan’s previous unwillingness to make himself available for Ireland means that I’m very cynical about what he says.
He hopes to be fit for the Twenty20 qualifiers - but only for the group stage. That’s right, less than a week since the ICC press release reaffiriming the mandatory release rules, Eoin Morgan is going to miss two mandatory release matches (assuming Ireland reach the semi-finals that is) and play for Middlesex in a Pro40 match because he “is committed to them”.
Sorry Eoin, when you make yourself available for Ireland you’re supposed to be committed to them. To Ireland’s credit, they are set to tell him that if he doesn’t make himself available for the entire tournament, they don’t want him for the group stage.
They should also tell him that he won’t be wanted for the World Twenty20 tournament in England next year itself, as it is becoming quite clear that, as I said a year ago, Morgan simply does not want to play for Ireland. It is time for Ireland to cut their ties with him.
Whilst it will be a disappointment for Ireland to lose such a quality batsman, you simply can’t run a national side when someone pulls out of a squad to play for another team at less than a weeks notice. Morgan wants to play for England, so he shouldn’t be playing for Ireland.
Whilst I don’t think he should be able to play for England after already playing for Ireland, I wish him all the best on his chosen career path. Maybe he’ll turn into one of England’s finest batsmen, or maybe he’ll emulate Gavin Hamilton and have a terrible first Test and never play for England again, I don’t know. But on his way up, it’s a shame he can’t show some respect for his roots.
Ed Joyce came back to play for Ireland in the 2005 ICC Trophy, and left Irish cricket on good terms, Morgan is liekly to leave on bad terms. And after all, one should be careful not to piss off people on the way up, as they’re the ones whose arse you’ll have to kiss on the way back down.
Good luck Eoin, and do the decent thing and retire from Irish international duty.
Posted: July 28th, 2008 by Andrew Nixon.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from Noire
Time: July 28, 2008, 9:37 pm
I think you are emphasizing on this lad way too much! Firstly, the site hasn’t updated anything on the ongoing European games (which I dont much care of) or the ACC trophy.
I think he has made his intentions pretty much clear for a while now. And to be honest he isnt the best there is in the associate level. I dont have to look far…Nepal itself have a capable batter in Sarad or even Paras who are both young and as talented. I do not have to go on abt the talent in Afg and other team…we all know there is an abundance of batting talent. The only problem is ECB is good and kind enough to include the rising stars in this part of the world to give them a chance and breed them well. Unlike the Asian counterpart who focus on nothing but their own wealth. If they had an intention to develop the region, surely they cud have featured some of our Nepalese or even players from countries like Afg, Malaysia in the IPL and ICL clubs. They wud definately cost a lot less and wud perform for the team. This in turned wud have given them some valuable experience which wud probably help us to get rid of our chocker tag.
So I wud kindly recommend the bloggers of this website to focus on real cricket, that is the ACC trophy and the European trophy..and give little or no significance to this ‘Page 3′ style boy gone bad stories.
Comment from ajaya
Time: July 28, 2008, 10:06 pm
in nixon’s defence
this pulling out is emblematic of the problems facing associate cricket. morgan is not an insignificant talent. the reason he keeps choosing club over country is that hes got to make a living, and playing for ireland takes him away form his day job. unless associate nations can pay their players, this will continue to happen. not all players will do what his doing, but there will always be some who will
as for the ecb letting associate players play the county game from the ‘goodness of their heart’, where did you get that idea from? they just want to leach away the best associate players and see if they can use them in england colors.
and from the players perspective, morgan wants to play test match cricket, is he supposed to wait will ireland are granted test status? i feel thats an unrealistic expectation on the player. mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, thats all there is to it
having said all that, yeah, andrew, how about euro and acc trophy updates :)
Comment from Rich B
Time: July 28, 2008, 11:07 pm
Cricinfo seem to think that Ireland’s exodus from non-major matches is purely down to player choice - whilst I disagree it does seem to be true for Morgan.
Looking at the big picture, though, if Ireland continue to produce talent at the rate they are doing, it won’t be many years before they’re playing Test cricket and problems like this will melt away by then.
Comment from Noire
Time: July 28, 2008, 11:56 pm
Ajaya,
I totally agree with ur third paragraph. And I can see where you coming from on the first paragraph. All of us face the same situation unless the associate country is truely well off.
But seriously, u think Middlesex is leaching Morgan so that he can later qualify for England? They just want the best for their team and they thought he was gd enough for M’sex. Amjad Khan is a similar example. Its not that ECB is hatching a plot to get them playing for England..I think its the player’s choice. And you are right in saying associates dont earn enough to feed their family. But dont you think England have enough pool of talent to select a good batsmen and bowler from England itself? (Well on the second account wut abt K.P and D Pattinson..lol @ english cricket) But seriously I think England have enough talent on its own and having played regular cricket in England for club and uni I shud b familiar.
Now on to the ‘Goodness of their heart part’…I surely think ECB have greater sense of do-good feeling than their Asian counterpart….where they are money hungry. I am not saying Amjad, Morgan or other associate players are not good enough to play in county but seriously they can be easily replaced by other like to like home players. Though, I am glad that they do have a chance to experience cricket at a better level. On the other hand, if you see the Asian Cricket Council..there isnt that understanding. If they really wanted to improve I am sure the BCCI has vast resources to accommodate few of our and Afg team players in the IPL. Or even include our national team in the Ranji or Pakistani Leagues, like the African board has been helping each other…Or IF I MIGHT DARE SAY THE ECB IS ALLOWING IRELAND AND SCOTLAND IN THEIR LEAGUE.(Okay I m sure that is what you have tearmed ‘goodness of their heart’ thingy…is it really necessary?) I am sure we wont be an embarrassment to either league given that we have continuously given top performance, except at times we chock. We even beat the Pakistan Academy team who won the triangular series between South African A and Bangladesh A team. But the ACC or the BCCI doesnt think in that way…do they?
Comment from dr gulkhan
Time: July 29, 2008, 7:35 pm
Noire i think asian test teams are for more helping the associates than england australia and south africa.
Just look at number o games they play against associates, it took them more tha a century to play a game against ireland, england have not yet palyed scotland; there closest neighbour.
And mind you its cuz of india and pakistan that srilanka and bangladesh have been able to improve.
And afghanistan plays in pakistan leagues. And some of there players played as professionals in pakistan and srilanka last season.
Pakistan academy played against nepal. When did engeland academy play against an associate.
Actually england did not even want to play against srilanka not for long ago, even after they had won world cup. They use to play one test series match agaisnt them.
Comment from Ian MacQuillin
Time: August 11, 2008, 2:11 pm
Morgan is in the England Lions (i.e. England A) squad to play the South Africans in a one-day game this week.
All the stuff about his commitment to Ireland notwithstanding, I just can’t believe he’s considered one of the best ‘English’ batsman.
Or maybe our batting reserves really are in such a state that we have to raid Ireland to be able to get a squad together. BTW, Ed Joyce is captain.
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