The England cricket management seemingly are not the kind of lot that give in to public pressure, they’re not the ones that will appease ex-cricketers by making decisions based on their opinions. So far they have looked like a bunch of rigid people that make decisions that not necessarily go in their favour, but still they stand-by those till the very end. And the way the things have unfolded in the past week reveal that this end has come for their continued support of Alastair Cook as ODI captain, as Eoin Morgan now takes charge in One-Day Internationals (ODI).
It’s the kind of decision that would have come a long time back had they let popular public opinion affect them. The cries for dethroning Cook as ODI captain have been resounding across England for the last four months at least, only getting louder and erupting with more vigour everyday. Not just the public, even former England cricketers, including former teammates realised that Cook wasn’t good enough as England’s limited-overs captain, but the management stood by him all through the ever-growing criticism in hope that he will eventually get it right.
Of course that never came to be. Cook’s England ODI team continue to hit lower levels with every series. In the previous 15 ODI matches under Cook, England managed only five victories. The fact that eight of those were played in home conditions makes it a more pathetic figure. The recent 5-2 series loss in Sri Lanka seemed to have been the final nail in the coffin for Cook’s captaincy.
The English management finally gave Cook the sack and duly announced Morgan as captain. The timing of this decision can be questioned. The world is bracing itself for the cricketing mega-event, the ICC World Cup 2015, which commences on February 14 in Australia-New Zealand, which leaves Morgan with less than two months to try and fit himself into the boots of captaincy.
As with any decision, this one has raised eyebrows too. Morgan‘s last seven ODI scores read 4, 0, 5, 62, 1, 17, 1 — to put it gently, those scores barely warrant selection. Morgan’s credentials as a limited-overs batsman can’t be questioned, but he has been in terrible form of late. The decision to put over him the pressure of captaincy at this point could prove catastrophic, not just for England, but even for Morgan. The pressure could weigh over him heavily and he could be crushed.
However, there exist a unique breed of people, a breed that revel under such kind of pressure, the ones who possess the unique ability to translate pressure into a launch-pad towards success, these are people who hold the rare tag of ‘born leaders’. The best example of such a person would be Ricky Ponting who took himself along with his team to unprecedented heights. Morgan is not completely unfamiliar with England captaincy. He has captained England in eight ODIs, led them to victory in three, lost four and one ended up with no result. Not much can be said of his captaincy ability based on just eight matches.
But the highlight for him during this period has been his batting. In those eight matches as captain he averages a beyond-impressive 71.16. Whether Morgan is born leader or not can’t be said at this point, however it is an opportunity for him to rise and to take England from the pits of humiliation to heights of glory. All we can do is wish him luck and hope he’s not another talented player who will succumb to captaincy like his predecessor.
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