Morgan's Men: The Inside Story of England's Rise from Cricket World Cup Humiliation to Glory

by Nick Hoult, Steve James

From English cricket's embarrassing failure at the 2015 World Cup to their heart-stopping victory four years later, Nick Hoult and Steve James vividly describe the team's dramatic journey from abject disappointment to finally lifting the trophy. Morgan's Men reveals how the team became the most aggressive limited-overs side in the world, led by their inspirational captain Eoin Morgan, whose vision and determination to succeed captured the imagination of the nation. Hoult and James follow England's journey from Bangladesh to Barbados, from Melbourne to Manchester, to present the inside story of the team's rebirth. They tell us how players dealt with the Ben Stokes court case, the sacking of Alex Hales for a drugs ban, and reveal the innovative new strategies and tactics that helped them become the best in the world, culminating in a World Cup final that was arguably the greatest one-day match of all time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports

336 pages, Hardcover

First published July 9, 2020

Reviews

[Prakhar Sachdeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morgan's Men: The Inside Story of England's Rise from Cricket World Cup Humiliation to Glory, is on England's men's cricket team and its journey from the 2015 Cricket World Cup to the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The book penned down by Nick Hoult and Steve James traces the team's journey from its low of the 2014 World Cup, where it got knocked out in the group stage to the 2019 World Cup, where the team went all the way to win the tournament and lift the World Cup trophy for the first time.

The four-year journey is perfectly captured in sixteen chapters. The book does a fine job is taking the reader along on a ride with the team. The lows of the 2014 World Cup, the appointment of a new head coach, the struggles of achievements of Eoin Morgan as the leader of the team, setting up a new vision for the team, the evolving nature of the sport, the players who come together to become part of the champion team, the matches England played in the 2019 World Cup and the dramatic, once in a lifetime final, all these are perfectly captured in the book.

But the book lags in giving contexts for the readers. The book could have felt better had the writers let the reader's know why the 2019 Cricket World Cup was such a big thing for the team? As a reader, I wanted to know what drove the team to become the champions? Where does this win ranks in England's sporting success? The after-effects of the win? These are a few questions that remain unanswered in the book.

But if you want to recall the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the book will do a good job in severing that purpose.

[Samuel Bruning · Rating 5 out of 5]

While a simple narrative at times, this is an easy to read, feel-good exploration of England’s journey to World Cup glory on that fateful Sunday in July. A must for cricket fans, who, like myself, are sure to love the extra details that were unknown to us at the time.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

You would not believe the story of England’s rise from zeros to heroes in 4 years if it was a Hollywood movie. Culminating in England winning the World Cup, it has to be five stars.

[Lewis S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summer of 2019 was brought to life so well here that I could almost smell the summer air and taste the celebratory pints of better days. It is laid out in an interesting, easy-to-follow way and I would thoroughly recommend for any cricket fan, even if you are just a casual viewer of the sport. I think the 'inside story' claim is a bit of a stretch as there were few 'Wow, I never knew that' moments but that does not take away from the enjoyable and interesting read this was. It has certainly got me excited for where this England team - in all formats - can go in 2021 and beyond. PS I must add that the audio version of this book is also good, though the narrator's attempt at accents - Eoin Morgan's Irish and a few Aussie impressions - are fairly annoying.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable history of the changes made in the team between 2015 and 2019, and of the final match itself. The recounting of the world cup final and matches leading up to it is particularly good, evocative of the competition, and feeling, in some ways, like watching the games with a knowledgable friend.

There's enough "extra" here (for me at least) to raise this above the level of a mere recounting, and the scorecards & pictures in the appendices make the book quite a nice souvenir of the 2019 CWC into the bargain.

[james · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and really good insight of the players and people who made the team that won the world cup in 2019 a must read for any cricket can

[P · Rating 5 out of 5]

When is the book “Bazball: The story of how Stokes and McCullum took England from the brink of losing their Test status to win the WTC” coming out?

[AS · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. As a fan of Brendon McCullum's firebrand cricket and the similar trait that Eoin Morgan's team adopted, I was expecting lot more of the transition from England's campaign in 2015 to 2019. But that journey was less than a quarter of the book and this was instead a verbal readthrough of the incidents in the 2019 WC, with random callbacks. The title is misleading.