Would the England ODI Captaincy Help or Hinder Eoin Morgan?

England will be without captain Alastair Cook in the fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Cook was given a one-match suspension due to a repeat offence for a slow over-rate.

Much fuss has been made over Cook’s form recently, but Morgan isn’t exactly in the best form either. He has not scored a half century since January 2014 and has scored 40 just once in his last 16 matches and averages only 18.60 in that time period. With the extra pressure of captaincy, it might not be the best thing for Morgan to be in charge.

However, stats suggest that he actually performs better when he has extra responsibility. Morgan has captained England in one-day cricket on seven occasions before and averages 73.00 in those games. He also managed his highest ever ODI score as captain, hitting an unbeaten 124 against Ireland back in 2013. He's also taken the reigns in T20 cricket on seven occasions. While his average is not significantly better when in charge, he most recently hit his highest T20I score while leading England against India.

The sample size of statistics for Morgan as captain is far too small to draw any definitive conclusions. However, players do sometimes excel when given extra responsibility while stuck in a rut.

England coach Peter Moores certainly thinks it could improve Morgan’s game. He has said the additional responsibility could serve as a distraction and was quoted by ESPN Cricinfo as saying:

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He will be frustrated and very disappointed that he hasn't yet managed to impact on the series. He's a really top-flight one-day player, a real key for us. It will be interesting next game, as captain. Maybe that is a nice catalyst for him. He's getting fully stuck in, and working at it. With four games to go, if he catches fire, he might end up top runscorer. The captaincy may be a healthy distraction.

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Morgan is often seen as the lynchpin of the one-day team, but he has struggled for form recently. When he was dismissed in Wednesday's ODI, former England player Kevin Pietersen had an interesting view.

Pietersen has not been afraid to speak out since the release of his book. While many have brushed aside his talk, he might have a point. Since Moores took over the England coaching role for a second time back in April, England have managed just five wins out of 13 ODIs and it's at around this time that Morgan's form started to dwindle. 

With the extra pressure of captaincy, a World Cup looming and England being desperate for a little bit of confidence, Morgan faces a tough test on Sunday. As an enigmatic player who is one of the best 360-degree strikers in the world, he has to shrug off his dodgy form and find a way to inspire an insipid team to do something special. There were signs of what England are capable of in the one-day format during the third ODI. Jos Buttler and Joe Root combined for an unbeaten 84-run stand off just 10.3 overs as England won by five wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method. 

Knowing that there are players who can back him up will stand Morgan in good stead. He has all the talent in the world to beat the best, it's now just about getting into the right mindset.