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ICC World Cup 2019: Eoin Morgan first English player to score 7000 runs and play 200 ODIs
England captain Eoin Morgan became the first-ever English player to score 7000 ODI runs in today’s World Cup game against South Africa.
Needing 23 runs before the game to get to the record, Morgan got to the record with a huge six over square leg fielder in the 26th over off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi. The Irish-born player had scored 744 for his original country Ireland, before switching over to play for England. Before the game, he had scored 6233 for the Three Lions.
It was not the only record, however, that Morgan broke on the day. Even before the toss, the player was congratulated by former Test captain Andrew Strauss for becoming the first player from England to play 200 ODIs. Having switched from Ireland to England in 2009, Morgan has been extremely successful in the limited overs format for the country. Before the game, his ODI figures for England read - 6273 runs at an average of 40.47 with 11 hundreds and 40 fifties. His batting strike rate of 93.29 highlights the kind of impact that he can have, and his leadership skills, which has seen England reach the top of the ODI table after a disastrous World Cup campaign in 2015, has been much applauded as well.
Only Joe Root has more hundreds for England with 14 hundreds in 132 games. Before Morgan, it was current fielding coach of England, Paul Collingwood, who held the record of playing the most ODIs for his country - 197.
