England’s limited-overs captain has been forced to wait for longer to make his first-class return after the left-handed batsman picked up a thumb injury. His return was highly anticipated as he was going to make an appearance for the first time in three years.
Morgan was ignored in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega-auction in January. He declared himself available for the first two months of the 2018 County Championship.
The inability to win an IPL contract had made his path clear to play county cricket but, now it seems the six weeks on the sidelines due to the injury will effectively keep him out of county action.
The 31-year-old Morgan has not played a four-day match since July 2015. His last appearance in a county game came as very unimpressive as he needs up with a pair against Somerset.
“Eoin was hit on the left thumb and x-rays revealed that he suffered a small fracture. He will sadly be out of action for at least four weeks,” said a Middlesex spokesman.
Middlesex, Morgan’s county side, has an option of signing an overseas option. However, the management decided to stay away from making that decision as the stylish left-hander is expected to be back around until the first week of June.
This is the second biggest setback to the county side after the unavailability of new captain David Malan.
Malan was ruled out of the first two rounds of Championship cricket after the absence Nick Gubbins due to a hamstring strain.
Eoin Morgan had earlier expressed his view on the ball-tampering scandal by the Australian cricket team.
The left-handed batter Morgan felt that the issues have triggered the cricket fans’ anger with this act but was hopeful that the things would calm down for better as times moves on.
Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were the centerpiece of the entire ball-tampering saga – Sandpapergate.
The shameful event saw Bancroft getting caught on camera trying to alter the condition of the ball using a sandpaper. The unfortunate incident took place during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
This act led to the suspension of Smith and Warner for one year whereas, Bancroft being slapped with a 9-month ban.
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