England captain Morgan retires, eyes domestic chances

England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has retired from international cricket.

Morgan, 35, captained England in a record 126 ODIs and 72 Twenty20s. His 118 wins as skipper across the two formats is also a record.

Jos Buttler is expected to take over as skipper of the two teams.

Morgan, who oversaw the transformation of England's white-ball side from also-rans in 2015 to 50-over world champions at Lord's four years later, has been struggling for form and fitness in recent times.

He had hoped to stay the course long enough for one last tilt at the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia this October, a final shot at unifying cricket's two biggest trophies, but he has now accepted it is time to quit.

"To call time on what has been without doubt the most enjoyable and rewarding chapter of my career hasn't been an easy decision," Morgan said.

"But I believe now is the right time to do so, both for me personally and for both England white-ball sides I have led to this point.

"I will continue to enjoy playing at a domestic level while I can.

"I'm really looking forward to playing and captaining London Spirit in the second edition of The Hundred this year."

Morgan, whose wife is Australian, has frequently spent the northern winter in Australia and his international retirement could pave the way for him to return to the KFC BBL via the new international player draft.

Morgan hasn’t played in the Big Bash since 2017 when he famously hit a six off the final ball to win a game for the Sydney Thunder against the Melbourne Stars.

Buttler's first assignment will be a high-profile series against India, comprising three T20s and three ODIs starting on July 7, before the same against South Africa.

He has already captained his country on 14 occasions as Morgan's deputy.

Dublin-born Morgan began his international career with his native Ireland in 2006 but switched his allegiance to England in 2009, citing a lifelong desire to play Test cricket.

The left-hander went on to play 16 Tests, scoring two centuries, but did not cement a place in the five-day side and went on to be seen as a limited-overs specialist.

As a sparkling and innovative stroke-maker he was ahead of his time and was catapulted into the captaincy when Sir Alastair Cook was sacked on the eve of the 2015 World Cup.

England were knocked out in the group stages of that tournament, but Morgan rebooted an ailing team.

Taking the driving seat alongside new head coach Trevor Bayliss, who acted more as a facilitator for Morgan's ideas, he ushered in a new generation of players and established England as the standard bearers for attacking limited-overs cricket.

The project culminated in dramatic fashion at the home of cricket in 2019 as England triumphed on boundary countback.

He also leaves a considerable legacy as a player, being England's record one-day and T20 run-scorer, posting 6957 and 2458 in the respective formats.