Brung low by a back spasm against the West Indies on Friday, England’s captain Morgan bounced back to leave the hapless Afghans punch drunk after an extraordinary knock that rewrote the record books.
Morgan came to the crease with England meandering against the World Cup minnows with the score on 164 off almost 30 overs. When he left, 17 overs later, the total was 359.
England eventually posted 397-6, with Moeen Ali striking 31 off nine balls at the death. Afghanistan had no chance of overhauling that total, and finished their innings on 247-8 as England recorded one of their biggest-ever one-day international (ODI) victories.
The valuable contributions of Jonny Bairstow (90), Joe Root (88) and Jofra Archer (3-52) to the England cause will soon be forgotten but Morgan’s knock will live long in the memory.
He said: “I didn’t think at any stage it was going to be my day. Getting quite old, running around with a bad back, I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d produce an innings like that.”
Demolition job
His innings was “utterly breathtaking” says Ali Martin in The Guardian. Martin said: “Amid this latest display of carnage came a remarkable demolition job on Rashid Khan, the uber-talented wrist-spinner who tears up the Twenty20 leagues and sat atop the ODI bowling rankings less than a year ago, but must now chew on career-worst figures of nine overs, none for 110.”
In The Times Michael Atherton says it was a statement of intent. Former England captain Atherton wrote: “There comes a point in a player’s career when he recognises the moment and senses his destiny. For Eoin Morgan, that time has come.
“It is Morgan who continues to drive his team’s vaulting ambition, scaling heights rarely seen when he eviscerated Afghanistan’s bowling attack with a blistering career-best one-day international hundred that included 17 sixes, more than anyone has hit in an ODI before.”
The 32-year-old batsman has overseen a total turnaround in England’s fortunes in the past four years. “Morgan hit just one six fewer than the total number that his team managed during the entire 2015 World Cup,” says Chris Stocks of the Independent.
“Sensible is not the default setting for this England team… and it was apt that it was Morgan, the man who has championed and cultivated this fearless approach, who took this contest from the mundane to the spectacular.”
17: sixes hit by Morgan in his innings, a new world record. Rohit Sharma, AB de Villers and Chris Gayle had previously shared the record of 16.
28: runs Morgan had scored when he was dropped by Dawlat Zadran at deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Rashid Khan. He went on to score 120 runs from the next 46 balls he faced.
57: balls Morgan faced for his century, making it the third-fastest in World Cup history. It took four balls more than the fastest, hit by Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien against England in 2011.
35: balls he faced after reaching 50. Those 35 balls, less than six overs, went for 96 runs. Morgan took his score from 101 to 148 in 13 balls.
208.45: Morgan’s strike rate, the second highest of any centurion at a World Cup. Only AB de Villiers, who hit 162 off 66 balls in 2015, has been more destructive.
43: Joe Root’s contribution to the partnership of 189 that he and Morgan put on for the fourth wicket. Root was eventually out for 88 off 82 balls.
211: sixes Morgan has struck in his international ODI career. He is now sixth on the all-time list behind Shahid Afridi (351), Chris Gayle (318), Sanath Jayasuriya (270), MS Dhoni (225) and Rohit Sharma (224).
25: sixes England hit in their innings, a new world record eclipsing the previous mark of 24, also set by England in February this year against the West Indies.
125: runs scored by England in the last eight overs of the innings. It wasn’t just Morgan who went to town - Moeen Ali struck 31 off just nine deliveries including four sixes.
33: sixes in the match, a World Cup record and the third highest total in history.
0-110: Afghan spinner Rashid Kahn’s figures after just nine overs after Morgan tore into his bowling - the second worst in ODI history.
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