Eoin Morgan congratulated on his selection by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

---

Player:

EJG Morgan

---

DateLine: 2nd May 2009

 

Cricket Ireland have passed on their congratulations to Eoin Morgan, who was named in both the England One Day International squad and Twenty20 World Cup fifteen.

 

Twenty two year old Morgan played 63 times for Ireland, scoring 2075 runs at an average of 37.05, making 12 fifties and 3 centuries. He holds the record for the highest individual score by an Irish batsman – his unbeaten 209 against the UAE in 2007. He played a pivotal role during Ireland’s successful World Cup Qualifying campaign earlier this month in South Africa, scoring 326 runs at 54.33. His last innings in an Irish jersey was a superb 76 against The Netherlands as Ireland secured their place at the 2011 World Cup.

 

Congratulations flowed in from various quarters. Current Ireland coach Phil Simmons said of his selection, “We’ve known for a long time that Eoin was destined to play for England, and the squad is happy for him that he’s got there and realised his ambition. We wish him all the best in the Twenty 20 tournament and also for his one day international career. While it’s disappointing to lose a player of his undoubted calibre, we’ve contingency plans in place, as his selection hasn’t come a shock to us.”

 

Cricket Ireland Chief Executive Warren Deutrom added: “We are sad to lose Eoin to England, and we sincerely wish him all the very best in his future career. However, it shows that Irish Cricket can produce players who are capable of competing on the world stage in the game’s ultimate format. This only strengthens our argument to push ICC to let our best players realise their ambition of playing Test Cricket with the green shamrock of the Ireland on their chest, rather than the Three Lions of England. Eoin’s departure, and Ed Joyce’s before him, underlines the fact that Associate Countries like Ireland will always lose our very best players until such time as we are shown a pathway to Test Cricket by ICC. At the very time that ICC is investing in us to be better, this anomaly highlights where the real change needs to come in the world game.”

 

Joe Doherty, Chair of Cricket was fulsome in his praise for Eoin Morgan saying, "Congratulations and best wishes go to Eoin from the Cricket Committee of Cricket Ireland. This is definitely a case of Ireland's loss being England's gain and we all knew in our hearts that this day was coming, such has been Eoin's precocious talent with the bat from a very early age. In a perfect world, we would love to see Eoin batting for Ireland as a Full Member Country, but the world is not perfect yet. On a personal level, I am absolutely thrilled for Eoin, his parents Jody and Olivia and all the Morgan family, who have been so supportive to Eoin in his climb to the top.”