Eoin Morgan will have until the end of Saturday to change his stance on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, with the England one-day captain having now officially discussed his reluctance to make the trip with Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket.
Morgan has let it be known that despite the month-long trip having been cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s security director, Reg Dickason, he is not comfortable leading the team for the three-match series that begins on 7 October. Jos Buttler, the vice-captain, is lined up to deputise in his absence.
Morgan and the opener Alex Hales, another known to be considering his withdrawal, were among the first group of contracted England Test and one-day players to attend the England academy in Loughborough on Friday for their regular end of season medicals and the contract appraisals with Strauss.
It was during the latter that the issue of Bangladesh was due to be discussed and, once the second group of players complete their sessions on Saturday, Strauss and the selectors will have their list of who available for the tour. An announcement on any withdrawals is then expected to be made on Sunday.
Morgan is understood to have explained his reluctance to tour with the one-day squad during the recent one-day series with Pakistan and it remains highly unlikely this stance – which has been informed by bad experiences on the subcontinent in the past and the fact England will be the first side to tour Bangladesh since the 1 July attacks in Dhaka – will have been reversed.
How a withdrawal by Morgan, who turns 30 on Saturday, affects his future captaincy remains to be seen, but one former England skipper, Nasser Hussain, has suggested that his future authority may be affected. He is a popular leader as things stand, having overseen an upturn in fortunes for the limited overs side since the 2015 World Cup.
While Strauss has warned players that pulling out of the tour means risking another taking their place on cricketing grounds, both he and the ECB have assured them that any such decision will not be held against them in future and Morgan is unlikely to be stood down as a result.
The fact that central contracts for 2016-17 are yet to be awarded and these annual appraisals in Loughborough will inform the ECB’s decision on who gets what has not been lost on the players as they give their decision on whether they will tour.
Recipients of the deals, which are expected to include specialist limited-overs contracts for the first time this year, will be named at the end of the month.
