As captain of the London Spirit, Morgan feels this year’s tournament will feature a wealth of talent and is excited to see how the limited format event can help England grow their ODI prospects.
“It is the closest I have ever played at domestic level to international cricket,” said Morgan.
“Everyone loves playing it, everyone loves watching it so it bodes really well for another good tournament.
“Over the course of the last eight to 10 years, all the major playing nations around the world have had established links with limited-format tournaments that our domestic players have done their utmost to play in to better their careers and ultimately to try and learn and become better players to play international cricket.
“Last year, there was huge evidence in the talent coming through that that was certainly possible and the tournament going from strength to strength, signing bigger and better names, a lot of England players available, all the white ball players available, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be.
“If the English white-ball head coach (Matthew Mott) says there is, then there definitely is, so that is a huge incentive for the younger batter, bowler, fielder coming through to try and make his way into that World Cup team.
“We are not littered with death bowlers and it is an extraordinarily difficult position to fill, Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills have done it extremely well but they need back up, banging down the door and making them better cricketers and I think The Hundred can provide that opportunity as well.”
The Oval Invincible has Jason Roy and Morgan believes there’s no better way to shine in The Hundred this year despite the struggling batsman scoring just 76 runs in six T20I innings for England this year.
“Anybody who has tracked Jason Roy’s career in international cricket has seen the highs and lows of Jason but the one thing you get with Jason is that when he is on song, he can take any bowling line up down and that sends a huge message not only to the opposition but to your changing room when you are in it,” added Morgan.
“It is great to see, certainly in the 2019 50-over World Cup, we missed him when he was injured and there was a huge difference in the team when he comes in and plays well.
“So, The Hundred is just an opportunity for him to go score runs.”
The white ball squad has experienced a spate of losses since Morgan departed from international cricket, but the World Cup winner is unconcerned because he knows that head coach Mott and newly appointed captain Jos Buttler will “have a plan” in place to enter the T20 World Cup in top shape.
Despite no longer playing international cricket, Morgan is still confident that he can “contribute” for the London Spirit as they launch their campaign on Thursday against the Oval Invincibles, live on Sky Sports.
“I have been practising with the team over the last couple of days, I have had a couple of hits during the course of the time I have been off and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
“It is a different outlook, a different team, a different challenge and one that I am looking forward to.
“Whilst I am still contributing to the team, leading well, captaining well and in this particular format I think I can offer something.”