Eoin Morgan retires from international cricket
Morgan's most important legacy would be as captain of the England limited overs side. After taking over a team made up largely of Test specialists post their 2015 World Cup debacle, Morgan transformed the team into record-breaking big hitters.
Eoin Morgan, the 2019 World Cup winning England captain, has announced his retirement from international cricket. Morgan, 35, brings to an end a career in which he is credited to have fundamentally changed England's approach to limited overs cricket, eventually leading them to their first-ever ODI World Cup title.
"Eoin was an exceptional talent from his early days with the Ireland team and over the years he developed into a top-class batter and captain, leading England's resurgence in limited-overs cricket culminating in that quite extraordinary World Cup victory at Lord's in 2019. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate him for an outstanding career and wish him every success in the next phase of his career," ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said.
Morgan initially started out as an Ireland player, making his debut in August 2006 in a match against Scotland. He was run out on 99 in the game and declared player of the match. He made his debut for England in an ODI against the West Indies in May 2009.
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Morgan played his entire T20I and his brief Test career for England. He scored 700 runs in 16 Test matches, playing his last red ball match for England in February 2012. However, Morgan would go on to become one of the most important figures in the history of England's limited overs cricket.
Of the 7701 ODI runs Morgan scored, 6957 were made after switching allegiance from Ireland to England in 2009. This makes him England's all-time highest runs scorer in the format. 13 of the 14 ODI centuries he has scored has also been for England. In T20Is he scored 2458 runs in 115 matches at a strike rate of 136.17.
However, Morgan's most important legacy would be as captain of the England limited overs side. After taking over a team made up largely of Test specialists post their 2015 World Cup debacle, Morgan transformed the team into record-breaking big hitters. England have rewritten the record for the highest team total in ODI match three times under Morgan and they eventually went on to win the World Cup in 2019.
