Morgan takes it in his stride

CRICKET:IF THE idea that today's sold-out RSA Challenge One-Day International between Ireland and England in Clontarf is a case of after the Lord Mayor's show for the visiting side, well then nobody told the Dubliner leading the visiting team for the first time on their inaugural visit to his home town.

Eoin Morgan, whose first taste of captaincy came with the Rush under-11s, will this morning become the third Irishman to captain England and the first of those to lead his side against the country of his birth.

You would imagine it would be a nervous occasion, but for a 24-year-old who has collected somewhat of an iceman image in his England career to date, there were none on show at Castle Avenue as he handled his first press conference as skipper with the calmness that seems such a part of his cricketing nature.

“Absolutely not,” Morgan replied when asked if the butterflies had begun to flutter. “I’m really looking forward to the game. I’m very proud of myself, my family are very proud of me and the majority of them are going to be here tomorrow, which is really exciting on my behalf.

“It’s a huge honour and privilege for me to be in the position I am at the moment, obviously this game in particular. I certainly wouldn’t have imagined it at all,” added Morgan, who also believes his elevation to the captaincy is a “huge compliment” to the structures in Ireland where he learned his profession.

It will not be his first time playing against his former team-mates, although a broken finger ruled him out of the memorable night in Bangalore back in March, when Kevin O’Brien’s record-breaking century secured a barely believable three-wicket victory in the World Cup.

Writing in his new book about that night, O’Brien tells of the chatter that came his way from the England side as he proceeded to pulverise them to all parts of the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Morgan, who will toss up against one of his closest friends in Ireland skipper William Porterfield this morning, is not too worried about the reaction he receives today.

“I enjoy playing against Ireland. I’ve done it a number of times, I get to play against a number of the guys I’ve grown up with, so it will be an enjoyable day for me.

“The first game I played against them there was a bit of banter flying around but it’s got to a stage now where I’m quite comfortable and don’t really bother that much.”

Morgan will lead an inexperienced England side shorn of many of their senior players that helped them secure a 4-0 whitewash against India to go top of the ICC Test rankings.

Two of the four uncapped players in the squad are guaranteed to make their debut, with Morgan pointing out that their form in county cricket has merited a chance to step up a level.

“Take nothing away from the guys that have come in, those four are the brightest and biggest talents in English cricket at the moment and they have a hell of a lot to offer. They’ll be a bit nervous as everyone is on their debut but it’s a fantastic chance for them to go out and prove that they can perform on the next level. No-one should be disappointed with the side we’ve come with.”

For Ireland coach Phil Simmons it certainly is not an issue and yesterday he was more concerned over the fitness of opening bowler Trent Johnston, who continues to be troubled by a knee injury that will makes him a big doubt to start this morning.

There has also been the lack of games this summer, with their last one-day international being the defeat to Scotland at the start of July.

The players, though, will need no extra motivation as ever when it comes to this fixture, with the hero of the World Cup win summing up the feeling of the players to be playing England in front of close on 5,000 people.

“Hopefully the team can do something similar, if not even better. That would be the ultimate, if we can play as well as we did in Bangalore and get another victory,” said O’Brien, before recounting his knock from Bangalore.

“You can always hope to play like that again. I don’t know if I ever will again but it would be nice if I could do half as good a job tomorrow.

“We are a team who are full of confidence and we know we can beat anyone in the world on our day. There is a belief in this team that if we get ahead we can stay ahead and beat the big teams.”

IRELAND (squad): W Porterfield (capt), A Cusack, G Dockrell, T Johnston, N Jones, E Joyce, J Mooney, K O’Brien, N O’Brien (wkts), B Rankin, P Stirling, A van der Merwe, A White, G Wilson.

ENGLAND (squad): E Morgan (capt), J Bairstow, R Bopara, S Borthwick, J Dernbach, S Finn, C Kieswetter (wkts), G Onions, S Patel, B Stokes, J Taylor, J Trott, C Woakes.

Umpires: S Davis (Aus), M Hawthorne (Irl). Third umpire: R Bailey (Eng). Match referee: D Jukes (Eng).