Eoin Morgan’s dropping from the English Test side today is probably deserved, but what does it mean for Test aspirant Ireland?
You can’t really argue with the decision to sack Morgan. In six Test innings in the United Arab Emirates Morgan has made a grand total of 82 runs at 13.67.
They’d be useful runs from a No. 10, but they aren’t so good from your No. 6.
His poor form then continued into the ODIs and Twenty20 internationals, meaning that his time in the whites and England’s three-lions cap is over for now.
It’s all bad news for Morgan: he is a major part of England’s limited overs teams, and was expected to play a major part in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka later this year. Before then he will play in the 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 against Scotland).
After rising up through the ranks of English county side Middlesex, Morgan eventually made his England debut in a ODI match against the West Indies in 2009. Oddly enough this was 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, also in 2009 but 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 ninth 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 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 is 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 Twenty20s.
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 all his 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?
Viscount Crouchback
Guest
"After rising up through the ranks of English county side Middlesex" Morgan might not be English, but he's a product of the English county system - as indeed are Pietersen and Trott - something people all too easily forget in this debate. Pietersen was a mediocre offie who batted at number 9 until Notts worked their magic on him.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Australia A ? I'd be happy if they played a Prime Ministers XI over four days at Bankstown Oval, or if they played Steve Waugh's XI in Cairns during the Australian winter.
sajjittarius
Roar Rookie
And therein lies part of the problem: nations like Australia are very reluctant to host the Associates (and Affiliates in Afghanistan's case). There's no reason we couldn't host Ireland/Afghanistan et al for games against Australia A during the summer, with a couple of ODI matches against the full side for good measure. Not that India's much better - they're still to host Bangladesh in a Test match!
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Ben D, The simplest solution for that is for the ICC to provide developing countries with a subsidy for match fees. I disagree about my Tigers versus Ireland over five days, but I'd like to see it. The other game I'd like to see is Ireland versus Australia during an Ashes tour, but there's no chance Australia will lift a finger to help a developing country.
Ben D.
Roar Rookie
It's been suggested that Ireland play in the county championship but one of the Irish higher-ups has stated that they wouldn't be able to pay their star players (the ones now playing county cricket eg the O'Brien brothers and Boyd Rankin) the going rate. Their star players are professionals after all. It's a real shame. Truth be told: Ireland would probably beat Bangladesh in a test match.
sajjittarius
Roar Rookie
Steve O'Keefe was born in Malaysia for exactly the same reason John McEnroe was born in West Germany - their fathers were serving in the military and were posted there at the time. Andrew Strauss first played cricket here in Australia before his family eventually settled down in England.
Brendon
Guest
I'd like to see more Irish player, and players from developing countries, get picked for the IPL. There could be incentives to pick players from developing countries introduced. Make them exempt from and salary cap, foreign player restrictions etc. Whats the chances of the BCCI ever using their resources and influence to help grow the game outside their region and countries that can help them stack the ICC?
Willie Dwyer
Guest
As far as I know Ireland are ranked 8th in T20 above the west indies. Ireland as you say are good very good. Over the weekend we qualified for this years T20 in Sri Lanka. This is the 5th world cup they have qualified for in a row, the last 2 ODIs and the last 2 T20s plus the one to come. All this happens on a shoestring budget. The total numbers that play cricket in Ireland is less than 10000 and to put that in context. The county of Yorkshire have more cricketers than the whole of Ireland north and south. Yes of course we have our imports too. Most qualify through a 4 year residency law. Players arrive as a club Pro,like the place and stay and end up getting married and kids etc. The 4 year law does not allow you to jump back home for your own season and pop back to ours in April. 4 years unbroken service bar holidays or trips of short term visits. To play cricket in Dublin a club must apply to the cricket Leinster on your behalf. You cannot be a grade 1 class cricketer and must hold a Level 2 coaching cert. The club applies for a visa or permit to the goverment for this player. One permit per club. You cannot just register a mate lets say from SA unless he is paying tax in Ireland so no weekend Flight in and out cricketers. Ireland currently have many of their players in the county cricket set up. Ed Joyce of course has played for England and has now requailifed for Ireland again I believe he was 3 to 4 years out of the English set up before he could play for us again. Most Irish supporters wish players who decide to qualify for England the best of good luck and both Ed and Moggy are legends in Irish cricket. With our success England will take more. Big Boyd Rankin currently is in the Lions set up and will be a huge loss if and went he goes. England use the system and they are not breaking any rules but they are abusing their position. Using and abusing. What image are they giving to the young teenagers of Surrey or Durham who are doing the hard yards in the nets only to see Paddy come lately getting their spot. Surely the numbers who play cricket in the UK is enough to pick from. I can't see Eoin playing for his country of birth and where he learned to play our great sport again. He is too good to be out of sorts for much more and will be back in the 3 Lions top real soon and good luck to him. As for Ireland our club season starts next month and the kids of ireland cannot wait to emulate our cricketing heros who once were Botham Richards and Gower but now are Stirling Mooney and O'Brien.
PeterK
Guest
it is political. The ICC is dominated by the Indian led block. Hence white countries entry is a lot harder than countries supporting India like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbawe over the old white countries England, Australia , New Zealand.
Don Corleone
Guest
Why, oh why, are they talking about giving Ireland test status as late as 2020? They could play better than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe now. Surely the next couple of years would be fine and they could capitalise on having ex-test players like Morgan and Ed Joyce in the side as well as the current crop of good performers. I can't see how infrastructure and grounds in Ireland etc would be an issue. NZ took on South Africa in a test at a humble university ground in Dunedin recently.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Alright smart-arse if you'd like to test your knowledge - I'm almost positive that Steve O'Keefe is not of Indian, Chinese or indigineous Malay ethnic backgroud. In other words I very much doubt his original nationality was Malaysian. I also doubt he is of any sought of ex-pat colonial British background which would be the only way he'd be a Malaysian on any passport. I'd suggest he was simply born their by chance. With respect to Andrew Strauss, I'm unsure if he is of Afrikaans or "British/English" ethnic background. I am rather confident he is not of Coloured, Indian or Black ethnicity. I am almost certain that when he was born his Birth Certificate had "South Africa" on it (South African Republic as it would have been pre-apartheid) - not "Australia".
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Looking forward to the country of my ancestors taking on England and us in tests from 2020. Back to poor old Eoin's form, England has a bit of a weakness with that spot. Iindeed there is a bit of dodginess about Strauss and Pietersen that the Aussies can exploit in the Ashes. England's bowlers are at this stage superior. Might be a battle of the bowlers. I couldn't care less were people were born as long as there is a test match on.
Sailosi
Guest
Steven O'keefe was born in Malaysia but your pretty sure he's not Malaysian. I'm not actually sure what Malaysian is. Even though Andrew Strauss was born in South Africa, I'm pretty sure he's not South Aftican. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
The Bush
Roar Guru
And in case anyone thought I was being a bit "rough" on England - in the same one (1) year period, Australia has had forty-two players play in all forms (that is something to discuss in itself) and only two (2) were born overseas! And one (1) of those players was Steve O'Keefe who was born in Malaysia (somehow I doubt he's Malaysian...).
The Bush
Roar Guru
In fact, a quick look on wikipedia (take it for what you will), has a list of twenty-nine (29) players who have played for England in any version of cricket in the last year. Of those twenty-nine (29), ten (10) were born overseas - eight (8) in South Africa, one (1) in Ireland and one (1) in New Zealand. In defence of this, at least four (4) moved as children/early teens (i.e. up to about twelve), one has an English dad (but born in South Africa) and Ben Stokes' page, who was born in New Zealand, only list's his place of birth as New Zealand - there's no information on how "Kiwi" he is. Still, pretty amazing how many South Africans have played for England recently...
The Bush
Roar Guru
The real disgrace is that countries like England, the home of the game, need to pick born-and-bred foreigners who have actually played multiple times for another country. I'm sure Australia is not immune to doing this (Nannes is an example, though he is a born and raised Australian in comparision to Morgan who, as you said, was born and raised in Dublin), but England seem to really love assembling a World XI. I know in the modern world we are always going to have examples of this, but surely countries like Australia and England should be net exporters of talent, not importers.
Jason
Guest
Forget Morgan. Have all The Roar Experts been sacked too? The hasn't been a new Red article for almost a week.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Do anything in cricket that helps the minnows ? Thats crazy talk !