Morgan captains weak England side in his Dublin homecoming
On the eve of this historic game I feel the need to say that the excitement and anticipation for the tie is being overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the squad that England have sent over to face Ireland. I personally feel that Ireland deserve a match against a stronger England side and that the ECB have made an error in sending over this squad.
One thing I feel the need to point out is that many of the players on tomorrow’s squad are a third, even fourth team for England. Only five members of the England squad played in the recent England Lions series. Only Eoin Morgan and Jonathan Trott payed in England’s recent test series against India. The ECB are saying that they have to rest players ahead of the upcoming one day series against India. However this match against Ireland is a solitary fixture and not an entire series. Surely one or two more of the big names in the England team would be able to play one match against Ireland. Another reason cited for the absence of the likes of Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen is that they may sustain an injury that would force them to withdraw from the one day series. Yes, by playing against Ireland they may pick up an injury, but as Joe Denly showed us in September 2009, cricketers can pick up injuries even in training.
When I first looked at the squad there were several names I had never heard of before, and I’m sure that many of the fans attending tomorrows game will also have not heard of them. This is extremely disheartening for fans of the game who have paid for their tickets to see Ireland play England, but sadly, this will not be the England they are used to. Following Alastair Cook’s inspiring 294 runs against India recently many people would have been looking forward to seeing Cook play in tomorrow’s clash. These fans will all have been disappointed when the ECB announced who they would be sending to Dublin for the fixture. Irish fans rarely get to see Ireland play against one of the top cricketing nations in the world, especially on home soil, so we would all have been eagerly anticipating seeing our home cricketing heroes play against some of the best in the world. Sadly, however, this will not be seen. Yes, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan and Steven Finn are all world class cricketers, and it will be exciting to see the play, but I have to admit I am not dying with excitement over seeing Jonathan Bairstow play. And I doubt many other spectators will be either.
After Ireland’s euphoric victory over England in March I was expecting that England would come into this match fighting for revenge over their loss. However, this England squad means that England are currently in a no lose situation. If they beat Ireland, they will have won the RSA challenge and will be able to boast that their second team is better than Ireland’ first team. On the other hand, if they lose, the ECB can shrug it off by saying that it was not their full strength team.
Tomorrow is heralding the first Ireland V England cricket match in Dublin. Eoin Morgan will be returning not only to his home country, but to his home club as well. His opposing number, William Porterfield, will be trying his very best to show Eoin that he made the wrong choice in electing to play for England.
