Hales and Morgan Out of Bangladesh
The first thing that it's important to note is that I am in no way offering some sort of moral judgement on Hales and Morgan. The ECB gave every individual player their own choice whether or not to tour Bangladesh and whilst personally I think that that was a foolish decision, it was the one that was made. Either it's safe to tour or it isn't, and the ECB and those associated clearly believe that it is safe. Hales and Morgan are clearly not convinced, and they have every right to stay at home, since the ECB offered them that option. Case closed. But nevertheless, it's important to explore the consequences of this decision for the two players, since there will be consequences. I think that the ECB's biggest mistake was promising both cricketers that no harm would come to their careers as a result of their decisions, because simply put: it's clear that that might not be the case. At all.
And that's where I want to start: with the narrative. Because the current narrative is very much that these are two players who cannot afford to not travel to Bangladesh for their own careers, and that Hales and Morgan have put their spots in danger as a result. Consider the narrative if say: Joe Root refused to travel. It would be very different. Root will probably be rested for the ODIs anyway, but his place in both the ODI and test teams is very much secure. The articles being written would be very different. I imagine they would be split into two camps: those who feel that Root is letting the team down and should be travelling because England need him; and others who would argue that it's only Bangladesh and England don't need Root anyway. Either way, the fact that the narrative is so focused on the personal consequences for Hales and Morgan, and not the consequences on the team itself, is very suggestive of their role within the narrative - neither are players that are irreplaceable, and indeed are players who might well be on the brink of being replaced.
We'll start with Hales, who more so than Morgan has placed his England career in real danger. His ODI and T20 career? Definitely not, he's too integral to both of those sides to seriously expect to be dropped this close to the Champions Trophy, although England do have a lot more batting depth now and can certainly absorb the loss of Hales. But Hales' test career must surely now be hanging by a thread. Hales averages just 27.28 in test cricket, averaging just 18.125 in the previous test series with Pakistan, and despite a decent score in each of the three tests against Sri Lanka, he has failed to kick on and is yet to score a test century in twenty-one test innings. This, coupled with the calls for young Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed, who has scored over 1000 runs in first class cricket this season, averaging over 50 and scoring four centuries and seven half-centuries, means that Hales cannot afford to give 19 year old Hameed the chance to cement a test place against Bangladesh, assuming the youngster is the one who is chosen to fill his spot.
The ECB of course have promised that Hales will not be penalised for not travelling to Bangladesh, but if Hameed has a good couple of test matches, coupled with Hales' poor recent form, the ECB can simply argue that Hales was going to be dropped anyway (in truth maybe he was) and that Hameed deserves to keep his place, and certainly Hales could have no arguments with that. We may never know whether Hales would have got one more chance to secure his test future, but chances are he won't get another chance in the near future, as Bangladesh is the perfect opportunity for Hameed, or whoever else opens alongside Cook, to fill their boots.
Morgan is naturally a trickier case, as he is England's short form captain, with Jos Buttler taking the armband for this tour. The first thing to note is that unlike Hales, Morgan is highly unlikely to be dropped for the India tour on the back of the Bangladesh tour; the ECB's promise of a lack of consequences will almost certainly mean that Morgan is not stripped of the captaincy. Certainly, with the Champions Trophy next year, Morgan will be the captain for the foreseeable future.
But the questions still remain. Morgan's batting is certainly the weakest of England's current middle order, with Stokes, Root and Buttler all looking seriously impressive against Pakistan. Moreover, Morgan's current ODI form is decidedly mixed: he hasn't scored an ODI century since June last year and despite his contribution in England's record breaking 444, his ODI scores in the last twelve months have been uninspiring, with three half-centuries in seventeen ODI innings.
Worse still for Morgan, there are ample batting replacements queueing up. Jonny Bairstow is in the form of his life at the moment, but has been unable to build a consistent run in the ODI side, and has struggled to score as a result. Ben Duckett has been in sensational form for Northants and England Lions in all forms of the game, and we all know how dangerous and destructive Sam Billings can be. If one of those, presumably Bairstow, comes into the team in Morgan's stead and scores a lot of runs, then Morgan's batting will come under increasing pressure going into the Champions Trophy, and the truth is that sooner or later, Joe Root or Jos Buttler will be called upon to take the captaincy, especially if Buttler's captaincy during the Bangladesh tour proves adequate.
So where does this leave Hales and Morgan? I believe that Hales will have to sit and wait for now. He has to hope that his replacement in Bangladesh has a poor series and that the ECB still have faith in him to leave the line in England's tour of India. I like Hales a lot but his test batting has not been up to scratch, and it looks as if he will have to wait until someone else makes a mistake before he can get back into the side.
As for Morgan, well his fate is very much still in his own hands for now. He won't be immediately replaced and Bairstow for the time being doesn't have an impressive enough ODI record to oust his captain, although he's starting to knock on the door. Morgan's captaincy has never been a problem, and if England keep winning then the ECB would be cruel to displace him, but from a personal point of view, the fact that Morgan is only putting his own career at risk by missing this tour rings loudly. Morgan simply has to improve with the bat, especially if he leads England in the Champions Trophy, and expects to still lead them during the World Cup.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Arsenal snatched a draw in Paris. Good result.
- Celtic humiliated 7-0 by Barca. Ouch.
- GB Paralympians up to 38 gold medals. Sensational.
- Well that Russian doping hack was something else...
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