England's Morgan Mystery

A juggling act: where should Morgan bat?

Following England’s Twenty 20 World Cup defeat to the West Indies in Pallekele on Thursday, the calls for Eoin Morgan to be promoted back up the batting order have been unanimous and justified – he scored an impressive quickfire 71 runs from just 36 balls.

The Dubliner, in the absence of Kevin Pietersen, is now seen as England’s lynchpin but could not do enough to save the Three Lions in the first game of the 'Super Eight’s' against Darren Sammy’s men. Positioned at five, he was faced with the task of helping acquire in excess of 120 runs for victory from just ten overs.

Stuart Broad’s side have not started well at all in this Sri Lankan tournament and their record in the very first over of each game emphasises as much - 0/1, 2/1 and 0/2 have been recorded against Afghanistan, India and the Windies respectively.

Sky Sports pundit Paul Collingwood, who led England to their first ever T20 title in 2010, agreed that the statistics by which the management team stick to so rigidly would indicate that Morgan is strongest away from the six powerplay overs, but for him to come in halfway through an innings would be too late.

Morgan though, is not a one man band and can’t do it all himself. If he had batted yesterday in his prime position of fourth, he would have found himself in the powerplay overs, out of his comfort zone and looking to defend his wicket.

That is not his style; he likes to get on the front foot, but needs a platform before he starts playing his strokes so masterfully. The man whose job it was to stem the tide and prevent the loss of further wickets was rookie Jonny Bairstow. 

Bairstow received criticism from Collingwood for not scoring at a run a ball and consequently “not doing his job”. And while the Yorkshireman’s knock of 18 off 32 could be considered a bit ponderous, he built a partnership and used nous well beyond his years to rotate the strike to the slightly senior, and more settled, Alex Hales.

Collingwood in his prime was a gritty player who you would want on your side but he would be well advised to encourage the efforts of 23 year old Bairstow and, if his volley needs to be aired, then the careless pair of Craig Kieswetter and Luke Wright should be the first to hear it.