Former England Captain Eoin Morgan to Play in Legends League Cricket (LLC)

Tags: Eoin Joseph Gerard Morgan

Published on: Jul 14, 2022

Former England cricketer Eoin Morgan is confirmed to be playing in the second season of Legends League Cricket (LLC) scheduled to be held between September 20 and October 10. The inaugural edition was held from January 20 to 29 this year in Oman. The participating teams were India Maharajas, Asia Lions and World Giants.

Morgan announced retirement just last month. He captained his winning team in the 2019 ICC World Cup and became the highest scorer of sixes in the tournament. The record is 17 sixes against Afghanistan. He had earlier played for the Ireland cricket team and became the first cricketer to make an ODI century for two nations. Simultaneously, he is the only cricketer in the English team to score over 4 ODI centuries as well as most-capped in both ODI and T20I matches.

The all-time leading scorer holds the record of making the fastest 50 in ODIs and the first male cricketer who has played 100 T20Is for England. He captained 57 of these matches.

Morgan's performance lately deteriorated. He could score just one half-century in the past 65 innings. Calls were made to resign from captaincy. He announced retirement this year on June 28 from international cricket and now is a part of the commentators’ team on the Sky6 Sports channel.

Born in Ireland to a Third XI Captain father, he started playing for the country's youth teams at a very young age and was capped at Under-13, -15 and -17 levels. He played in the 2004 edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and became the top run-scorer in the tournament representing Ireland. He captained the 2006 Under-19 World Cup and became the second-highest run-scorer. He is currently the highest run-scorer in the history of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. His aggregate was 606 runs.

Morgandebuted for ODIs in 2006 representing Ireland at the European Championships. He scored 99 runs against Scotland before being run out. No cricketer has been dismissed in any ODI for 99 on debut. His first ODI century was witnessed in February 2007 playing against Canada.

He represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL) and a year later he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a consecutive period of the next three years. He was purchased by Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2015 and by Kings XI Punjab in 2017.

He contributed his cricketing skills in other franchises including the Pakistan Super League, the Mzansi Super League, the Euro T20 Slam and The Hundred.

What is Legends League Cricket

Legends League Cricket or LLC is a unique form of cricketing in which only post-retirement players can participate. For sponsorship reason it is named Howzat Legends League Cricket. It is a 20-over format tournament and the first edition was held in Oman between January 20 and 29 in 2022. Absolute Legends Sports Pvt. Ltd. is the administrator and the second season is scheduled to be held between September 20 and October 10 this year.

Only three teams had participated in the inaugural edition and these were India Maharajas, World Giants and Asia Lions. The World Giants defeated Asia Lions by 27 runs in the last season. Former New Zealand cricketer Corey Anderson was titled Player of the Match.

Four new teams are learned to be participating in the second edition. Apart from Eoin Morgan, several other retired cricketers have confirmed their involvement in the league and these include Virender Sehwag, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Monty Panesar and Muttiah Muralitharan.

A report reveals the first edition had a gigantic global reach of 703 million cricket fans across the world and simultaneously became the most watched international league in the Twenty20 format in India after the IPL. The viewers were more than that of Pakistan Super League, Caribbean Premier League or Big Bash in India.

The league had to fight a legal battle before the start of the first edition over the copyright of its 20-over format and the involvement of former star cricketers. However, the court judgment was in favor of it with a verdict that the game of cricket cannot be under copyright.

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