Cape Town — Eoin Morgan could easily lay claim to be the most-loved Irishman in all of the United Kingdom.
The Dublin-born Morgan is almost a messiah-like figure within English cricket. He is revered not only for bringing home the World Cup to Lord’s, but even more so for radically transforming England’s approach to white-ball cricket.
He allowed his players to enjoy the game and play with great freedom and a real sense of joie de vivre. It was “Bazball” before “Bazball” actually became a thing.
Morgan has, though, relinquished his throne after retiring from international cricket last month, but his legacy lives on in the players that remain and in his successor Jos Buttler.
With England’s defence of their World Cup crown just under a year away now, all eyes will be on Buttler next week when the hosts lock horns with the Proteas in a three-match ODI series starting at Chester-le-Street in Durham on Tuesday.
Proteas coach Mark Boucher, who is also without regular captain Temba Bavuma due to injury, does not believe England will miss a beat under their new skipper Buttler.
“Morgan was a very good captain. They speak very highly of him here in England and for good reason as well. I think the England side is a very well-drilled side. They have their style of play that they play. So, I don't see too many changes,” Boucher told reporters at the Proteas’ arrival media briefing on Tuesday.
“You know, just taking over, I'm sure he's (Buttler) going to go with what's been successful for them. He might bring in one or two of his own personal preferences into the environment. But we can only prepare for what we've seen in the recent past. So I don't see too many changes there.”
Buttler will be hoping to preserve England’s fine ODI record against the Proteas on home soil. The visitors have never won a white-ball bilateral series in England, with their only ODI success coming back in 1998 when they lifted the Texaco Cup.
Boucher was part of that Proteas side in 1998 — his first of four tours to England — and gained vast experience of the conditions until his career was tragically cut short in a tour game at Taunton leading up to the 2012 series.
He therefore knows the importance of the two warm-up matches this week against the England Lions in order for his team to acclimatise to the unique English conditions
“I think obviously that is something that we all know about (South Africa’s ODI record in England). It is quite tough coming to England and usually your one-day series is played at the beginning of this tour. We will have our meetings and we'll get a couple of guys to stand up and talk about what it's like and the different pressures of playing in England as well,” Boucher said.
“During Covid times, we also didn't have the opportunity to play a couple of warm up games. Now we actually are playing a couple of warm up games, so that will stand us in good stead. We will try to give everyone a go. Unfortunately, it's two games of cricket. As I said in the first game, we've opted for a game where we can try and get all of our batters to bet and then all of our bowlers to bowl. We will try to accommodate everyone. It is quite difficult when you've got 17 guys to look after.
“The second game will be a List A game, so it's basically the 11 that you choose. And I'd like to think that it's going to be close to what we are looking to play in the first game. In the short period of time that we've got before the first ODI, we need to look after those 11 players as we get closer towards the starting game.”
IOL Sport