Morgan earns England call for first Test

EOIN MORGAN has been rewarded for his form in limited overs cricket with a call-up to England’s 12-man squad for the First Test against Bangladesh, which starts at Lord’s on Thursday.

It caps a meteoric rise for the 23-year-old from Dublin after he made his England debut a year ago today in a one-day international against the West Indies in Bristol.

The left-hander has become a mainstay of England’s middle order in that time and has justified his reputation as a finisher.

His gift of inventiveness at the crease played a huge part in England winning the recent ICC World Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean, their first success in an ICC event.

He also displayed coolness under pressure, not least in his innings of 45 against Ireland in Georgetown, Guyana.

Morgan replaces Paul Collingwood, who will sit out the two-match series against Bangladesh with a shoulder injury he aggravated while leading England to victory in that event.

His Middlesex county colleague,Steven Finn, has also been called into the squad to cover for Stuart Broad, who is to undergo strength work in preparation for next winter’s Ashes Tour to Australia.

English national selector Geoff Miller is confident that Morgan, who won 63 Ireland caps, can make the transition to Test cricket.

“We have obviously seen much of Eoin’s potential in one-day situations and we hope he can transfer what he does there into five days. He has an opportunity to show us he can do that,” said Miller.

Meanwhile, Morgan’s former club North County went top of Division One of the Leinster Senior League on Saturday with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Merrion at Anglesea Road.

Eddie Richardson and Australian professional James Boyland took three wickets each as the home side were restricted to 143 for nine from their 50 overs.

Despite losing two early wickets, County chased down the target in just 23 overs with Brian Shields hitting an unbeaten 41.

Railway Union continued their unbeaten start with a seven-wicket victory over Malahide at Park Avenue , while Leinster outclassed YMCA in Rathmines, chasing down 92 to win in the 18th over.

A century from Ireland international Andrew Poynter helped defending champions Clontarf claim their first win of the season as they beat The Hills by 61 runs at Castle Avenue.

ENGLAND SQUAD(to face Bangladesh in first npower Test at Lord's): A Strauss (Middlesex, captain), J Anderson (Lancashire), I Bell (Warwickshire), T Bresnan (Yorkshire), A Cook (Essex), S Finn (Middlesex), E Morgan (Middlesex), K Pietersen (Hampshire), M Prior (Sussex, wkts), A Shahzad (Yorkshire), G Swann (Nottinghamshire), J Trott (Warwickshire).