It’s a cricketing year that, for all the other myriad events and series that are scheduled, will undoubtedly be dominated by the T20 World Cup in October and November.
With England’s preparations off to a sluggish start in the Caribbean, and to the backdrop of the catastrophic Ashes defeat, there is seemingly an appetite for change in the upper echelons of English cricket – Chris Silverwood’s tenure as head coach of the Test side appears to be on thin ice, while Joe Root’s term as captain has also been questioned.
England hold on for the win… just.
But in the last five overs, Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein have been absolutely incredible for West Indies. What a fight! 👏👏👏
The T20 series is now squared at 1-1. #WIvENG pic.twitter.com/zlYkWnGX8S
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) January 23, 2022
The insinuation of change is that deadwood needs to be stripped away and fresh, hungry energy brought in, and so you wonder if the fallout of English cricket’s winter from hell will yet spread to the limited-overs set-up as well.
By the time the T20 World Cup rolls around, Eoin Morgan will be 36 years old, and his deputy, Moeen Ali, will have turned 35. Chris Jordan, whose death bowling skills have come under renewed scrutiny, will be 34 when the time comes to head down under.
This is not an ageist rant by any means, but when we talk about ‘change’ in sport and succession planning it often takes on an ‘Old Yeller’ feel – that the humane thing to do is let players that are in the winter of their careers to be taken out of the firing line.
Age is rarely a factor in T20 cricket, where the brain often wins out over brawn, and yet paradoxically, the limited-overs forms of the game do feel like they are moving in the direction of supreme athletes over wily veterans.
Kiwi Collapse
Of course, such arguments against Morgan as T20 captain were rather thin on the ground when England reduced New Zealand to 13-2 after three overs of the World Cup semi-final in November, but it was the manner in which the Kiwis cantered to victory thereafter from a seemingly impossible position that set tongues wagging about leadership, strategy and some rather generous late innings bowling.
England lost an unlosable game in the T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, then did their best to lose another against West Indies last night
The conclusion is unavoidable: they have a death-bowling problemhttps://t.co/n40wAWiwbx
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) January 24, 2022
It was a tournament in which Morgan averaged 34.00 with the bat via a strike rate of 119.29, but 40 of his 68-run tally came from a single inning, with a couple of late not outs adding gloss to an otherwise meagre return. Just prior to the World Cup, the left-hander’s IPL campaign with the Kolkata Knight Riders saw him make nine consecutive scores of 15 or lower.
England are currently priced at 7/2 in the T20 World Cup cricket odds behind hosts Australia and India, and it’s unlikely that price would lengthen any if Morgan stepped aside. It’s not beyond the pale that Jos Buttler could retire from Test cricket and take on both limited-overs captaincy’s – it’s a move that works from every perspective – and he would surely love to get his Lancashire mucker Liam Livingstone higher up the batting order while handing a chance to the criminally overlooked Sam Billings.
There’s no doubt that Morgan carries the support of key figures within the ECB, and any change of captaincy will likely come after the World Cup in Australia. But by then, will the captain be taking up a place in the team that could be utilised by a more dynamic replacement?
