Ben Stokes' captaincy is set to be the key to England’s tilt at Ashes success this summer.
That is the verdict of the man who has had a huge impact on Stokes’ style of leadership and who learnt his own method by studying Brendon McCullum.
Eoin Morgan is uniquely placed as the man who transformed England’s white-ball cricket during his time as captain, but who has had a remarkable hand in the direction of the Test team too.
It was Morgan who recommended McCullum to Director of Cricket Rob Key for the Test coaching job, because he knew he could offer just what England were looking for.
And it was as Stokes’ long term skipper in ODI and T20 cricket, where Morgan’s influence was most deeply felt - and how we have arrived at ‘Bazball’ and a philosophy that has the players shooting for the stars and the draw almost an irrelevance.
“Good leadership and captaincy can make a real difference to a team and Stokes’ leadership I think is going to be key for this Ashes,” said Morgan.
“He’s always been a leader and as captain he’s been great. I’ve sat back and admired how he’s gone about it. I learned a huge amount from his coach Brendan McCullum and leadership is shaped by the people that have influenced you. They have recognised what strengths their players have and are trying to utilise them. And they've worked.
“He's continued to answer questions where you have to defend it and continue to talk about it, and I can certainly relate to that.
“For the first three years of our transition in white-ball, I kept saying ‘we're doing this because it works and it will continue to work as long as we get better at it.'"
Having played 16 Tests as well as over 300 white-ball games, Morgan will be spending this summer as part of the Sky Sports commentary team who are showing live coverage of both men’s and women’s Ashes.
But it remains a gap in his stunning CV that he never managed to play in an Ashes Test, having to make do with some hugely memorable games and wins over the Aussies in coloured clothing instead.
“I would have given my left arm to play in the Ashes,” Morgan added. “I went on the 2010/11 tour as the spare batter, but we had such a strong batting line up.
“Every time I had an opportunity against the Aussies particularly in 50 over cricket. I would go 'well, this is the closest I'm getting to playing an Ashes against these guys. If that is where I want to be, then I need to do well here to start with.”
Some would wrongly assume that Morgan only has eyes for the white-ball game having made such a big impact in it and focused the second half of his career on it, but he doesn’t want to see Test cricket diminished.
And perhaps that is where the greatest admiration for Stokes comes from.
“Test cricket for me is still unbelievable,” he said. “But it is a really challenging time for it. It has lost Virat Kohli as a Test captain and he always spoke vividly about how much he loved it and was passionate about it.
“Stokes is the same, and he has taken on a huge responsibility to the game to make it as attractive as possible.”
