'I need to make the right call' says exhausted Morgan about future

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This was published 4 years ago

'I need to make the right call' says exhausted Morgan about future

By Nick Hoult

An exhausted Eoin Morgan will go on holiday this week to contemplate his future and decide if he has the "drive" to carry on as England captain. Morgan was at Heathrow on Saturday as one of the icon players at the draft of the Euro T20 Slam competition that will be played in Scotland, Ireland and Holland this summer.

An emotionally draining week has included chatting to the Prime Minister at Downing Street and taking the World Cup trophy to Lord's to show it off to 28,000 supporters at the Middlesex v Essex Vitality Blast match.

England captain Eoin Morgan shares a laugh with British PM Theresa May.

England captain Eoin Morgan shares a laugh with British PM Theresa May.Credit: PA

Speaking for the first time since winning the final on Sunday night, Morgan said he has to weigh up whether his body can stand up to international cricket and if he is still worth his place in the team before deciding whether to continue as captain.

There are tours to New Zealand and South Africa this winter (the trip to Sri Lanka is Test-only) and the next major event is the World Twenty20 in October 2020.

"I have tried to think about it the last couple of days but everything has felt emotional," Morgan said. "If I was under pressure to make a decision I would probably make the wrong decision. I don't know what the right decision is yet but if I made it now I think I would look back and think I made it while I was all over the place.

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"Thankfully, I am not under a lot of time pressure. I am going to get away from everything. Hopefully, that will put into perspective what has happened and my future.

"Family is at the forefront of it but also the team. I have also battled through the World Cup with my back and my fingers and mentally it has taken a huge amount out of me, and it has got to be the right decision.

"I also have to ask, 'Can I add value to the team?' Right now I think I can but will I have that drive this time next year? Will I have it in four years' time? I don't want to leave it too long. It is not fair on anybody. The schedule is to leave on October 20 and the squad will have to be picked two or three weeks in advance. Hopefully I will have come to the decision by then."

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Morgan chatted at length to Theresa May on Monday night when she told him she "might go on holiday for a while" after leaving office next week. He also revealed that the England team were cheered through the door at No 10 Downing Street by the Prime Minister's staff.

"It was brilliant," Morgan said. "When you are briefed, they tell you that when you walk down Downing Street you have to wait outside the door and she will come out and greet you.

"We got within 10 yards and she came out. We thought, 'Wow, she is keen to meet us.' She loves cricket. She and her husband are self-confessed Test match fans, but she watched all the World Cup [final] and loved it. One of the cooler parts was we walked through the corridors at No 10 and all the staff were there cheering us. It was amazing."

Morgan and the trophy had been inseparable since Sunday night but he has finally handed it over. "It reached a stage where I didn't want to leave it somewhere [and lose it]," he said.

"I left it in Angus Fraser's office last night at Lord's. It is probably back at ECB offices now. I took it to Lord's on Thursday night because it was a cool thing to show it off to loads of kids. It might have been the first time they have been to a cricket match and they got to see the World Cup. It was brilliant."

The Telegraph, London

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