Eoin Morgan has announced his retirement from international cricket. The left-hand middle-order batter has been in poor form and is suffering injuries. However, Morgan’s achievements in the past seven years since the day he took over England’s white-ball leadership roles are no less incredible.
The retirement announcement had been expected for a while before today, especially when he bagged two back-to-back ducks against the Netherlands. Today, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed Morgan’s retirement, making it official.
This announcement saw the end of Eoin’s reign as the English team’s white-ball captain. His achievements as captain and as a player played a significant role. He has led them to five ICC events, in which he had major success in the 2019 tournament.
“From my start in the international arena with Ireland to win the World Cup in 2019, I have never lost sight of how integral family support is to any international sportsperson….. I am hugely proud of what I have achieved as a player and captain. I have been lucky enough to play in two World Cup-winning teams, but I believe the future for England’s white-ball teams is brighter than ever.”
- Eoin Morgan while announcing his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect
We will look into the journey of Eoin as the national captain before we break down with statistics on why he is England’s greatest white-ball leader.
When Eoin Morgan took up England’s captaincy
In December 2014, just two months before the commencement of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, ECB announced Morgan as the new England ODI captain. It was the result of Alastair Cook’s poor form and poor team performance from the team that happened.
His first assignment was the tri-series that involved India and Australia. The team qualified for the final but was defeated at the hands of the hosts. The tournament followed and it turned out to be a disaster.
The Lions managed to win just two out of six matches with both wins coming against low-rank sides. Eoin himself scored just 90 runs across five innings as the national team was eliminated by Bangladesh.
The Introduction to New England
Following the horrible tournament, Eoin and the team were backed by the ECB management which was led by Andrew Strauss.
They were visited by New Zealand, who were beaten 3-2 in the ODIs and also the one-off T20I match. Champions Australia visited them for the Ashes and limited series. Though Australia won 3-2, the Lions defeated the Kangaroos in another one-off T20I game.
That summer of English cricket showed what was to come. Because from that point onwards until mid of 2020, the side lost only three One Day series. It was indeed an incredible run, which also saw them rise to number one in ICC ODI Team Rankings in 2018.
Similarly, in the Twenty20 Internationals, Eoin led them to 18 series in which they have won 11 of them.
| Series Played | Win | Loss | Drawn | Win/Loss Ratio | Win Percentage | |
| ODIs | 26 | 21 | 03 | 02 | +7.00 | 80.77% |
| T20I | 18 | 11 | 07 | 00 | +1.57 | 61.11% |
| Total | 44 | 32 | 10 | 02 | +3.2 | 72.73% |
No English skipper (who led the team in at least 5 ODIs and T20Is) has a better record then Morgan himself.
England under Eoin Morgan in ICC events
Morgan has led his national side to five ICC events. Of the five events, England have reached the knock-out stage four times. The only tournament that they could not qualify in the knockout stage was the first mega event for Morgan in 2015.
They have twice reached the Semi-Finals (in 2017 and 2021 tournaments) and the Finals (2016 and 2019 tournaments). Their success came in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, where they were crowned champions for the very first time in an ICC ODI event.
| Year | Tournament | Result | Position |
| 2015 | ICC Cricket World Cup | Group Stage | 10th |
| 2016 | ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup | Runners Up | 2nd |
| 2017 | ICC Champions Trophy | Semi-Finalists | 3rd |
| 2019 | ICC Cricket World Cup | Champions | 1st |
| 2021 | ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup | Semi-Finalists | 4th |
Before their mega win in the 2019 edition, the Lions have reached the final in the 50-over ODI events only thrice; 1979, 1987 and 1992 World Cups. Even though the final ended in a tie – twice – the revolution of their cricket to play aggressive helped them in their boundary count result. This was easily the English team’s biggest achievement and it came with all the buildup from those four years.
Do read this: A look back to the greatest World Cup final
Eoin Morgan as Captain and a Player
The former Irish cricketer has dominated the English white-ball cricket personally. He is both the leading run-scorer in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
| Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | High score | |
| ODI | 10 | 6957 | 39.75 | 93.89 | 13 | 42 | 148 |
| T20I | 115 | 2458 | 28.58 | 136.17 | 0 | 14 | 91 |
A side note here; Morgan has scored 744 runs for Ireland in ODIs so those are not counted in this stats.
The southpaw has made this personal stats as records for English Cricket across the limited-overs cricket. We can look a little further at these records;
| One Day International Records |
| Most Matches represented (225) |
| Most Runs (6957) |
| Most Fifties (42) |
| Second-Most Hundreds (13) |
| Twenty20 International Records |
| Most Matches represented (115) |
| Most Runs (2458) |
| Most Fifties (14) |
A glamorous 16-year-old career has come to an end. An Irish cricketer dreamed to play for England, moved countries and played memorable innings. Not to mention the biggest prize he won for the country. Eoin Morgan defined himself as a great leader, who revolutionized the English Cricket.
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