‘Red-ball cricket helps my technique’ – Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, has insisted he hasn’t closed the door on his red-ball cricket career.

Morgan, 31, last turned out for England in whites in February 2012. His last first-class game was nearly three years ago in county cricket, when he made a pair for Middlesex against Somerset in July 2015.

With a first-class average of 34.97, he fell out of favour – until this year. He was set to feature in the county season, but a thumb injury delayed his return.

The Ireland-born batsman is keen to resume playing the long format soon as he believes it helps his limited-overs game.

“Red-ball cricket helps my technique. The most vulnerable part of your batting is the first 30 balls. The sooner I can get back to batting, the better,” he said in an interview to the ECB Reporters Network.

“Where I’m at, I want to play red-ball cricket and I still think I’ve got something to offer. This year I’ve trained hard and I did some red-ball stuff while I was away in New Zealand over the winter.”

Morgan suffered a broken thumb while facing Tom Barber, the left-arm fast bowler, in the nets. He is expected to recover in time for the matches in May.

“I get the thumb X-rayed weekly, to make sure everything’s mending in the right place and there’s no need to pin it. When it’s firmly attached, I can start hitting balls again, probably in about two weeks’ time,” he said.

England’s next one-day international assignment is against Scotland in Edinburgh on 10 June, before they take on the visiting Australians in five ODIs. Morgan will also lead the Rest of the World XI in a charity T20 International against the Windies at Lord's in May.