Eoin Morgan

... sort of fell apart pretty quickly actually.

And then, um, when Matthew Mott and McCullum worked together, yes, England went and won a T20 World Cup, um, in Australia very quickly, but that was still the remnants of, of Eoin Morgan's team, and then things fell apart for England at the 50 Over World Cup in India, um, the following year.

But yeah, Brendon McCullum are long-term mates, teammates, business partners.

I think even in the press conference Steven Fleming described himself as the big brother of the relationship.

Um, but, uh, I might try and sprinkle a few bits in.

Well, you know, um, i- in the final stages of the 2019 World Cup final when Eoin Morgan, when it's, got to the Super Over and, uh, you know, they were all wishing each other good luck and so on.

Yeah.

And Eoin Morgan beckoned over Adil Rashid and said, um, you know, "We've got Allah with a- with us, haven't we?" Uh, Rashy, or, uh, Adil, and Adil Rashid said, "Always, brother."

Oh, that's very powerful.

Yeah.

So when you have a team like that and you have a squad like that, it's incredibly exciting because everybody's gonna push each other consistently to be better and better and better.

A bit like that white ball era that Eoin Morgan had where if you missed out for a couple of games, there was always someone good enough to come and take your spot.

And at the moment it feels like England are in that position.

So I said to you, how could they get better? But actually, are they kind of at the pinnacle at the moment? They're playing as well as they possibly can?

Uh, there might be opportunities, so say, for argument's sake, this next T20, um, on Saturday, there might be an opportunity for him to rest in that game.

The series has been won.

It might be o- the opportunity to give whoever's the next in line to be captain, giving them opportunity to see, a bit like what Eoin Morgan did at times.

Can I just say that, uh, do you need, though, actually to miss a block? So you need, you need two or three weeks off rather than one, you know, rather than three or four days off? 'Cause obviously the one-day series starting on Tuesday, he's the captain of that.

[laughs] Ah, we, we'll give them a chance, all right.

Um, the g- the goals in, uh, for, uh, Claregalway in that second half, uh, Darragh Whelan, Eoin Morgan, uh, getting, uh, key goals, um, obviously for them as well, and David Termey getting the other one.

Um, fortunate enough with the deflection, I'd safe to say there.

Um, but those three goals that they did raise was obviously the difference, and in one way, Claregalway will have to be pleased that they still went on to win this by 11 points, Barry.

Eamonn McGrath's long range kicking obviously impressing at the weekend.

Three points from three forty-fives as well.

Uh, Eoin Morgan getting one three.

Jack Lonergan, um, getting three points as well for them.

It's a pretty ridiculous thing to be able to say I saw you on telly.

Um, and Nour Ahmad during the men's game, and also did the little introductions to the bite-size highlights of both games, which was really cool, and it was mental to spend the day in the pod with the Sky Sports team, with people like Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Stuart Broad, Owen Morgan, and even got to spend some time with the BBC team as well, given it's Isa Guha's charity, Take Her Lead, that help run, um, the competition.

So I went and spent some time with her, and it was, all in all, just a really, really special day.

So you were actually in the pod, were you?

Uh, looked confident in his technique.

He spoke to Eoin Morgan, I think it was at Lord's or maybe the start of this test match, and he was, uh, very sort of assured in himself, and he used, said the f- phrase that he wanted to out-bat Joe Root.

Just gives the fact that, that he, his love for the longer format is right there, and, and he wants a place in the side.

The other thing was, was his keeping.

A- and this Pakistan team is not that.

How much time did you spend as captain getting to know your players individually? Eoin Morgan's very big on that.

How much time does that take? Because again, that's something that Barber is dealing with.

He's been introduced to these guys, may not have met them, certainly hadn't played with them.

It's a storied career.

One of those people you'll always remember, like Ed Joyce, we always talk even now, or Eoin Morgan, who then went on to do great things with England.

These were all people who had sterling careers.

[laughs]