Morgan named captain for Ireland match

Eoin Morgan will captain England with Alastair Cook
one of a number of senior players being rested 

Eoin Morgan will captain England for the first time in career when he faces his former countrymen, Ireland, in a one-off ODI in Dublin next week.

Morgan, who did not play in England's sensational World Cup defeat against Ireland in Bangalore due to injury, will lead a new-look 13-man squad including several up-and-coming members of the England Lions, after the selectors decided to rest a number of its senior players ahead of the five-match ODI series against India later this month,

Leicestershire's James Taylor, Yorkshire's Jonathan Bairstow and Durham's Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick all recently featured in the England Lions' ODI series win over Sri Lanka A. None of them has yet been selected in a senior international, but with Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, James Anderson and Stuart Broad among the key absentees, a draft of debutants can be expected in the fixture.

"The squad we're looking to take to Ireland involves a number of exciting young England players as we rest several players currently involved in the npower Test series against India," said the national selector, Geoff Miller.

"By resting several players that have played international cricket since the start of the summer the opportunity has arisen for a number of talented up and coming players to continue their development on the international stage. We know from previous encounters that Ireland are a tough ODI outfit and we'll be fielding a very strong England side that will need to play well.

"We're also presented with the opportunity to provide Eoin Morgan with further leadership experience and I know he is very much looking forward to assuming the captaincy and developing his leadership credentials while in charge of a young England squad."

One senior player who will making the trip is Jonathan Trott, who has recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained during the second Test at Trent Bridge, and is expected to be fit to play. His replacement in the third and fourth Tests, Ravi Bopara, also makes the trip, as do Steven Finn and Graham Onions, the two unused fast bowlers from the Oval Test squad.

Last week it was confirmed that Andy Flower, the team director, would also be missing the trip to Ireland. He will link up with the squad ahead of the Twenty20 international against India on August 31. In his absence, England's assistant coach Richard Halsall will take charge.

Morgan, who is England's official Twenty20 vice-captain, becomes the fourth England captain of the 2011 summer, following on from the Test skipper Andrew Strauss, the regular ODI captain Cook, and Stuart Broad, the Twenty20 captain.

It promises to be a tough baptism against an Ireland side who came uncomfortably close to winning their last bilateral fixture against England, at Belfast in 2009. That match, which took place in the immediate aftermath of the Ashes victory at The Oval, finished with England sneaking over the line by three runs, only after Morgan, fielding as a substitute at long-on, parried a Trent Johnston six back into play with one ball of the match remaining.

Squad Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonathan Bairstow, Ravi Bopara, Scott Borthwick, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter, Graham Onions, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes