Morgan shows off England class… and SPIN logo

England lost the fifth ODI at Trent Bridge, despite posting 299, to now trail 5-0. But for SPIN’s Eoin Morgan, at least, there were some of those famous ‘positives’ to be taken as he hit his first half-century in England ODI colours, getting to wave his bat complete with SPIN logo at the crowds and cameras for the first time.

England went down with 10 balls to spare after a masterclass in timing a chase from Ricky Ponting (126) and Michael Clarke (52). There was a masterclass-in-reverse from England’s hapless fielders that left skipper Andrew Strauss with a face like thunder by the end.

Strauss helmed England’s previous ODI nadir on home soil, the 5-0 defeat to Sri Lanka in 2006; here, there are still two more games to go.

Even the monosyllablic skipper concurred, at his unusually terse post-match press conference, that Eoin Morgan was a “talented individual” and that his batting had been “superb”.

Morgan, batting at 6, had top-scored in England’s innings, hitting 58 off 41 balls.

Morgan’s innings included four fours and three sixes. Far from being full of his trademark flips and sweeps, the knock included plenty of clean baseball-style hitting over mid-wicket off the fast bowlers.

The knock repaid the faith shown by the selectors after a season in which Morgan has been short of runs at county level.

Previously, Morgan, who turned 23 last week, had played 23 ODIs for Ireland, hitting five 50s and a century.

Read Eoin Morgan’s blog of the season here.