England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the remaining two matches of the ongoing five-match T20I series against West Indies after sustaining a low-grade quad injury.
Notably, the Irish cricketer had missed out on the third T20I after feeling some pain in his right quad during the pre-match warm-up. In his absence, all-rounder Moeen Ali had captained the English side in the third match, which the visitors lost, and West Indies took a 2-1 lead.
“England Men’s captain Eoin Morgan will miss the final two matches of the international Twenty20 series against West Indies with a low-grade quadriceps injury. Morgan sat out the third T20 in Barbados on Wednesday night after he felt pain in his right quad during the warm-up. Follow-up testing revealed he sustained a right thigh-muscle injury which, whilst relatively minor, will prevent him from playing further games during the current tour,” said England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in a statement.
Morgan didn’t have good outings in the first T20Is against the Caribbeans. He made scores of 17 from 29 balls in the series opener, followed by 13 from 12 deliveries in the second match.
After losing the first game, the tourists made a comeback and defeated West Indies by a solitary run in the second match. However, England felt the absence of Morgan in the third contest where Rovman Powell played a blistering knock to get hosts over the finish line.
Notably, before the beginning of the ongoing series, Morgan had clarified that this campaign was an opportunity to expand their options ahead of the next T20 World Cup in Australia in November, later this year.
“The whole tour is one where the development of our game is more important than a series win. We’ve gone through this process before, and identifying the level of intensity and our performance is far more important than the result,” Morgan had said.
