Eoin Morgan missed selector's calls for England appointment

 Eoin Morgan

London, Dec 21 (IANS) Middle-order batsman Eoin Morgan has said he had "20 missed calls" on his phone from national selector James Whitaker, who was trying to offer him the role of England One-Day International (ODI) captain.

The 28-year-old was appointed as Alastair Cook's replacement on Saturday, following England's recent 2-5 series defeat against Sri Lanka, reports bbc.co.uk.

"I thought I better give him a ring and he said 'we'd like to offer you the captaincy'. I was delighted to be asked. Being offered the captaincy is awesome," Morgan said on Sunday.

"It's a huge honour to lead an extremely talented group of guys during a really exciting period."

Dublin-born Morgan made his ODI debut for his native Ireland in 2006, but switched to represent England three years later. Morgan has captained England in eight ODIs, most recently in the fourth match in Colombo on December 7, which ended in defeat for England.

The then stand-in captain was fined 20 percent of his match fee for a slow over-rate. The left-hander averages 71.16 with the bat as captain and has led the side to three victories, four defeats and one no-result.

England face Australia and India in a World Cup warm-up ODI series before the start of the 2015 tournament which is being jointly held by Australia and New Zealand.

England will begin their 2015 World Cup campaign against Australia on February 14 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).