At 2pm today, at a press conference held at Lord’s, the England and Wales Cricket Board and England Men’s white-ball Captain, Eoin Morgan, confirmed the Dublin born left-hander’s immediate retirement from international cricket.
Morgan has overseen an era that has seen England’s white-ball side develop into one of the most exciting and explosive limited-overs sides in world cricket. An era that saw both England’s ODI and T20 sides rise to the top of the ICC World Rankings and lift the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy for the first time in history.
Now aged 35, Morgan retires from a fourteen-year international career with England as his country’s all-time leading run-scorer and most capped player in both limited-overs formats. He has led England as Captain in both ODI and T20 formats since 2015.
In his record-breaking 225 ODI caps, he scored 6,957 runs, including 13 hundreds at an average of 39.75. In his 126 matches as Captain, Morgan oversaw 76 victories with a win percentage of 60 per cent, the best win record by any England Men's ODI Captain in the history of the game.
He captained the Men's T20I side on 72 occasions, equal to India's MS Dhoni as the most in T20 international cricket. In all, he represented England on 115 occasions scoring 2,458 runs. As a Test cricketer, he won 16 caps over a three-year period scoring two centuries.
He also holds the world record for the highest number of sixes in an ODI innings, with 17 against Afghanistan at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
In 2020 Morgan was rewarded for his services to cricket with a CBE in the Queen’s Honours list.
Morgan joined Middlesex as a youngster, making his Second Eleven debut in 2003 as a sixteen-year-old, and his First Eleven debut in 2005 as a nineteen-year-old.
He has made 275 appearances for the Club to-date, scoring just short of 9,000 runs in all formats, and has 14 centuries to his name.
Everyone at Middlesex Cricket congratulates Eoin Morgan on a truly outstanding international career. The Club is hugely proud of everything you have achieved in the game and for the enormous contribution you have made to English cricket.
On announcing his international retirement at Lord’s earlier, Morgan commented:
"After careful deliberation and consideration, I am here to announce my retirement from international cricket with immediate effect.
"To call time on what has been without doubt the most enjoyable and rewarding chapter of my career hasn't been an easy decision, but I believe now is the right time to do so, both for me, personally, and for both England white-ball sides I have led to this point.
"From my start in the international arena with Ireland to winning the World Cup in 2019, I have never lost sight of how integral family support is to any international sportsperson. To my Mum and Dad, my wife, Tara, and our family around the world, thank you for your unconditional support throughout the good and more challenging times in my career. Without you all, this incredible journey would not have been possible.
"I must also thank my teammates, coaches, supporters, and those behind the scenes who have made my career and any successes possible. I am hugely proud of what I have achieved as a player and captain, but the things I will cherish and remember the most are the memories I made with some of the greatest people I know along the way.
"I have been lucky enough to play in two World Cup winning teams, but I believe the future for England's white-ball teams is brighter than ever. We have more experience, more strength and more depth than ever before. I look forward to watching on with a huge level of excitement.
"To what lies ahead for me, I will continue to enjoy playing at a domestic level while I can. I'm really looking forward to playing and captaining London Spirit in the second edition of The Hundred this year."
Rob Key, Managing Director of England Men's Cricket, said:
"On behalf of the ECB and everyone involved in cricket, I'd like to thank Eoin Morgan for his outstanding contribution to the game.
"It will be wrong to think Eoin's legacy was just winning the World Cup in 2019; it is far greater than that.
"As with all great players and leaders, he has changed the way the game has been played, and he has changed the way an entire generation and generations to come will play this form of the game. His legacy within the game will be felt for many years to come.
"He is, without question, the best leader I have seen. I wish him well in the next chapter of his career."
