Is Eoin Morgan the right candidate to lead England's ODI side?

Not so long ago, Alastair Cook was England Cricket Board’s (ECB) most favourite person. Cook was their loyal child and in any trying circumstances, Cook has always received ECB’s utmost support. And for which it’s pretty hard to imagine that Cook has now been left in the cold by his most beloved Board.

On Saturday December 20 2014, the ECB sacked Alastair Cook as England’s one-day captain and confirmed Eoin Morgan as the next captain with less than two months before the start of World Cup. Cook doesn’t even feature in the 15-man squad for World Cup.

Captain Cook had become a liability for quite a while

Over the years, Cook’s one-day form has been dull. He had scored only one half-century in the last 22 innings and his last one-day hundred came 45 innings back. His slow-paced batting has also been a worry for England in this fast-and-furious age of cricket. Moreover, as a captain, he has failed to inspire his team – 36 wins and 30 defeats out of 69 matches.

Cook’s lack of ability to score runs was becoming painful for the fans and critics. In Sri Lanka, he was simply a helpless figure. Neither had he stayed at the crease longer nor did he show any urge to score runs in plenty for his team. And this has been Cook’s story for a long time now.

Surely, it’s hard to keep the faith in such a player who has failed to live up to the expectations time and again. The cricket pundits, fans and ECB’s most disliked person Kevin Pietersen have been vociferous regarding Cook’s axing from the one-day team and finally, Cook’s harsh critics will have plenty to smile at present.

Eoin Morgan a risky investment

It’s always sensible enough to replace the captain with a player who is in good form and also has leadership qualities. But, how logical is it to appoint Eoin Morgan as the captain? Like Cook, Morgan’s own form with the bat is also not good enough. In the last 19 innings he has scored just one half-century and this doesn’t do any justice to ECB’s decision.

But as a captain, Morgan averages almost 71 with the bat in eight matches and this might have encouraged the English hierarchy. Perhaps, they think that Morgan’s game will reach at its peak if he is made the captain.

Again, is Morgan a dynamic captain? At the eleventh hour, England needs a dynamic captain who can lift his team up not only with his performance but also with his captaincy prowess and man managing skills. Is Morgan the messiah whom the English one-day team is looking for?

ECB’s decision can’t be termed as bold but very risky. Former English spinner turned cricket columnist Vic Marks said, “The template for this World Cup seems to be the campaign in the Caribbean in 2010 when England won their solitary ICC trophy at the World T20. But the secret to England’s success then was that there was no template”.

Of course what he says is true – firstly, the twenty20 and 50-over formats are different. There is no scope for experimenting. You need to send a team which is well settled under a tried and tested captain in the World Cups.

Cook should have been removed from the one-day captaincy a long time ago to give the new captain enough time to gel well with his new job. But, it seems too late to appoint a new captain with the World Cup just knocking at the door. Whether Morgan has been the right choice or not as the captain, only time will tell.

Note: This article has been published in Sportskeeda on 20/12/2014 http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/eoin-morgan-right-candidate-lead-englands-odi-side

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

A challenging journey awaiting Bangladesh at the 2015 ICC World Cup

First of all, congratulations to the Bangladesh cricket team for such an emphatic win against Zimbabwe in both the Test series and the one-day series. Their dominating performances recently have made up for all the frustrations regarding the Tigers throughout the year. After losing 22 matches out of 27 across all formats till mid-September, such a performance has certainly reinstalled the lost confidence not just in the team but also among the fans. 

But one must not forget about the poor state of Zimbabwe cricket, and time and again, their lack of experience showed up. To Bangladesh’s credit, they have been able to capitalize on the weaknesses of Zimbabwe smartly.

Th Bangladesh bowlers, especially the spinners, were instrumental in thrashing Zimbabwe, but it’s hard to ignore the struggle of the Bangladeshi batsmen, with them losing a couple of quick wickets almost every time, and how they were found wanting against Tinashe Panyangara’s sharp pace and testing short-pitched bowling on placid tracks.

Even on batting-friendly tracks, the shakiness of the batsmen against a less competent pace attack was quite alarming as Bangladesh’s next mission will be the ICC World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand, where the conditions are hostile for the teams from the subcontinent.

The Tigers will face a tough challenge Down Under as they are not accustomed to playing in such conditions. They last toured Australia way back in 2008 and New Zealand in 2010. Except a few, a majority of the players have no idea about what playing in Australia and New Zealand means.

Neither in the batting nor in the bowling department, do Bangladesh have the players to put up a good show in Australia and New Zealand. Yes, there is a Shakib Al Hasan, but only one man can’t be relied upon to win every match.

Technically, Bangladesh batsmen lack an immaculate defence and are not very good back foot players. The batsmen lose their mojo whenever they are out of their comfort zone. Then, relying only on finger spinners can never fetch success as the hard and bouncy tracks in Australia are not helpful for off-spinners.

Leg-spinners, on the contrary, have always been productive Down Under, as a result of which Jubair Hossain is the new hope, but he is still too young to reap rich rewards on the biggest stage of them all.

Moreover, in Australia and New Zealand, medium-fast bowling can hardly pose a threat. A team needs a pace bowler who has the ability to bowl back of a length around the off-stump with sharp pace and deliver yorkers in the death overs consistently.

It was expected that the Bangladesh hierarchy would prepare pace-friendly tracks during the one-day series against Zimbabwe which would have helped the players a lot.

As a matter of fact, Bangladesh have never planned for the World Cup in an appropriate manner. Preparing seaming and bouncy tracks in domestic cricket or at least in one or two international matches has never been given sufficient importance. Moreover, sending the junior teams to Australia and New Zealand was never initiated. Such tours would have been a big learning curve for the Tigers. 

Time is short and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has plenty of work to do. They could possibly look at appointing someone like Aminul Islam as a consultant, who has a very good idea about Australian conditions, in the lead-up to the World Cup.

The current coach Chandika Hathurusingha is undoubtedly a very competent one, but he has not had enough time to organize his men well. With just a couple of months left for the quadrennial event, whether he can prepare his team well enough for Bangladesh to at least compete remains a moot question. 

Note: This article has been published in Sportskeeda on 5/12/2014 A challenging journey awaiting Bangladesh at the 2015 ICC World Cup

Thank You

Faisal Caesar