Eoin Morgan's baseball stance gives him the power to destroy bowlers When Eoin Morgan first started playing he was very much a sweeper Old Trafford also produced a very good pitch so Morgan did not have to be funky The England captain's stance has evolved into a good power-hitting position Morgan picks his hands up high and moves into a baseball power-hitting stance By Nasser Hussain for the Daily Mail Published: 22:58 BST, 19 June 2019 | Updated: 22:58 BST, 19 June 2019 Viewcomments When Eoin Morgan first started playing for England he was very much a sweeper and reverse-sweeper, especially against spin. Square of the wicket was his go-to area. Even against Afghanistan at Old Trafford on Tuesday he got a reverse sweep away off his 12th ball. He did that because the man on the boundary on the off-side was in front of square, as is the case for most left-handers. But once Morgan had played that shot the captain had to move his man behind square. Subsequently, anything that was hit in front of square went for four or six because of the gap in the field. So Morgan was able to go through extra cover with huge confidence. Morgan picks his hands up high and moves into a baseball-style power-hitting stance Remember, too, that since 2012 there has been one less fielder outside the circle in the middle 30 overs, so Morgan knows he has one more area left unattended and does not have to produce so many innovative shots. It is one of the reasons why scores have gone up and Afghanistan left deep midwicket vacant when their spinners were bowling so, on a length, Morgan was able to whack it there. Yes, they were going for six, so it didn't really matter if the area was unattended, but the confidence to play the shot came from not having a man there. Old Trafford produced a very good pitch so Morgan didn't have to be funky. He could hit through the line rather than go square, manoeuvre and sweep as he would on a low, slow surface. He could hit with more confidence through the line. Morgan was badly dropped on 28 when Afghanistan had only one man out in the deep, but he would not have played the shot had the extra man been out there. Instead he would have gone back to his sweeps. The key is that he's very smart at manipulating the field. The England captain's stance has evolved into a really good power-hitting position. He gets into a stable base and keeps his head down through the ball as well as anyone. Morgan picks his hands up reasonably high, gets his front leg out of the way and moves into a baseball-style power-hitting stance. But if you look at any of his 17 sixes on Tuesday, his head is down right over the ball at the point of contact. The England captain's stance has evolved into a really good power-hitting position Morgan has powerful MS Dhoni-like wrists that get real power through the ball, so the strength he used to play all those sweeps in the past now provides power in his straight hitting, with very fast hands through the ball. It is all a far cry from the crouched stance that Morgan had for about a year when he got really low at the crease as the bowler let the ball go. He had just got into a bad habit, a trigger movement where his backside almost touched the ground, and that is too low because his head was moving far too much. He certainly doesn't do that any more. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility