What comes as a major shock for England’s team is that Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the remaining two T20Is against West Indies due to a low-grade quadriceps injury, the ECB confirmed on Thursday.
ENG vs WI 2022
Eoin Morgan didn’t feature in the third T20I as well after feeling pain in his right quad during England’s warm-up session. In Morgan’s absence, Moeen Ali led the team in the third T20I. However, change in leadership couldn’t do wonders for England as they fell short in a chase of 225 handing West Indies a 2-1 lead.
“Follow-up testing revealed he sustained a right thigh muscle injury which, whilst relatively minor, will prevent him from playing further games during the current tour,” the ECB said in a statement.
The England squad who is playing against West Indies are missing the services of their key players-Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood as they have been rested following their participation in the Ashes 2021-2022. Meanwhile, Jofra Archer has been out of action since 2021 due to his long-dated elbow injury. He has recently gone through an elbow operation & is on the path of recovery.
In the absence of Eoin organ England handed a debut to Harry Brook, with Salt and George Garton also making their maiden T20I appearances in place of Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood.
In the first two T20Is also Eoin Morgan couldn’t leave the mark with his performance as he ended up scoring 29 balls 17 runs in the first T20I & chipped in with just 13 runs off 12 balls in the second T20I. Though Moeen Ali didn’t feature in the first match he displayed wondrous performance in the second match & won the ‘Player of the Match Award for his blistering 31 runs knock. He also contributed with the ball by scalping 3 for 24 helping England to secure a one-run win to level the series.
Moeen Ali was successful in displaying his best performance as a captain in the third T20I as he bowled just one over & conceded only 14 runs off the 244 runs scored by the West Indies thanks to Rovman Powell’s maiden T20I ton. Tom Banton and Philip Salt scored the fifties but England could only manage 204 in reply, with Moeen being dismissed for a duck. Moeen Ali will continue to lead England’s squad in the absence of Morgan in the fourth & fifth T20I of ENG vs WI 2022 series which is to be played on January 29 and 30th respectively.