The decision that the cricketing world had been expecting for ages has finally been made. England selectors met to pick the squad for the tri-series against Australia and India next month.
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But since it’s a 16-member squad for the series preceding the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, it was basically a side for the showpiece event in February.
With that in mind, the senior management has done well by calling an end to opening batsman and captain Alastair Cook’s one-day stint following a string of poor scores for more than a season now.
Cook has failed to hide his alarming dip in form and confidence, having gone 59 innings in international cricket without a ton and logging just one half century in 22 ODI innings.
Cook cannot win the World Cup for England, with the bat or as a captain. So it must have been a simple enough decision.
With Cook on his way out of the ODI set up, England had three options for the captain’s post.
Joe Root is young, supremely talented and has a good head on his shoulders. However, he is just 23 and couldn’t possibly be entrusted with the task of leading an inexperienced side at the showpiece event Down Under.
Then there was Stuart Broad, who has captained England on a number of occasions, especially in T20s. But he is returning from a serious knee surgery and no one knows whether he will be at his best with the ball in the hand, let alone with the captain’s hat.
So the selectors were left with Eoin Morgan. On the face of it, Morgan hasn’t set the stage alight with the willow. He has just one fifty plus score in 19 innings, not much better than Cook’s miserable run.
But Morgan is the only player in the current set up who plays limited overs cricket almost exclusively, and has decent leadership experience. Morgan, therefore, offers the best option among the limited few England have.
Another name that England selectors have to decide on is Kevin Pietersen, given the paucity of pure limited overs batsmen in the side. As the management has been taking a call on KP for non-cricketing reasons, and that he continues to be seen as a divisive figure, you can expect the dashing batsman to be kept out of the mix.
The rest of the squad should pick itself, with the likes of Moeen Ali, Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan forming the core of the side, with pacer James Anderson also expected to be back.
As far as leadership is concerned, England have done well to put an end to the Cook mess, and pick Morgan in his place. Now they need to just get on with it.
