Morgan Hails BBL As World’s Best

England’s white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan believes the Big Bash League is the pinnacle of domestic T20 cricket worldwide.

The Sydney Thunder batsman has plied his trade in a variety of T20 leagues across the globe, including several stints at the IPL, but says none compare to the Big Bash experience.

“It’s probably the best T20 domestic tournament in the world,” said Morgan, who smashed a last-ball six to defeat Melbourne Stars before departing for England’s tour of India.

“The Big Bash and the IPL bring their own strengths being two different nations, but I think whenever anybody goes to Australia the culture of sport is far higher because it’s generalised across the board.

“They have a unique position where every evening for about 35 days there is a game every night, bar one or two nights over Christmas. They’ve found their niche and they’ve created a great product. It’s a great tournament to play in. The lifestyle of playing T20 cricket, you can live a life outside of cricket as opposed to spending 12 hours a day at the ground.”

[caption id=”attachment_47691″ align=”alignnone” width=”747″] Morgan smashed a last-ball six against Melbourne Stars to take his team to victory in the BBL[/caption]

Morgan scored 159 runs in five matches in this season’s BBL, signing off in a style by hitting 71 not out from 50 balls to keep the Thunder’s hopes of a semi-final place alive, and the left-hander says the quality of the competition is helping to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket.

“It closes the gap,” said the 30-year-old, “because there is always a question when you’re selecting guys [for international cricket] of how they will cope with other things that go with the game as well as the game itself. You want them making good decisions and repeating the basics more often than not and doing that in a domestic tournament like the Big Bash is brilliant.”

[caption id=”attachment_47689″ align=”alignnone” width=”717″] He scored 159 from his five BBL matches this season[/caption]

Morgan’s attention now turns to England’s tour of India which features three ODIs and three T20Is. With a busy schedule ahead, including a tour of the Caribbean in March and May’s Royal London one-day series against South Africa, he is in confident mood as the team builds towards the ICC Champions Trophy on home soil this summer.

“I see this year as being a huge year for us. It’s the halfway stage in the four-year cycle to the next World Cup and the Champions Trophy is in fact almost a dress rehearsal for it.

[caption id=”attachment_47687″ align=”alignnone” width=”750″] Morgan’s played in the IPL but rates the BBL as the world’s best tournament[/caption]

“At the moment if we were to play the tournament this week I think we’d be in really good shape for it. It is a huge opportunity, particularly given that home advantage tends to play a part in major competitions.”

Eoin Morgan was speaking on behalf of Royal London, proud sponsor of one-day cricket. Visit royallondoncricket.com for more information and look out for an in-depth interview with England’s one-day captain in the forthcoming issue of All Out Cricket – out February 2.