Morgan sets sights on Test career

Eoin Morgan is determined to prove to himself and the world he belongs in Test cricket.

England's surprise call-up to the 12 for the first npower Test against Bangladesh, on his home ground at Lord's, has made his name as a limited-overs batsman, but the left-hander's returns in first-class cricket - especially last year, when he averaged under 25 for Middlesex - have been nowhere near his one-day statistics.

Even so, England's selectors have backed their instincts and therefore fast-tracking the 23-year-old Irishman into their Test plans and he said: "It did surprise me, slightly, to get the phone call the other day. But I was over the moon too, because to get a phone call like that is every kid's dream. Test cricket is where I want to be, to test myself against the best."

Morgan himself admits he was taken aback when he was told he had been picked, in the absence of Paul Collingwood - who has a shoulder injury and is being rested from the series along with Stuart Broad.

Morgan, one of a clutch of England cricketers to earn an Indian Premier League contract this year, has been pigeon-holed by some as a player whose ambition - if not his talents - may be trained on limited-overs possibilities. He insists, however, that nothing could be further from the truth.

"Test cricket is my biggest aspiration, and my biggest dream," he added. "It has been since I was a kid. I grew up watching England play Test cricket and wanted to be like some of my heroes. That is where I want to be."

The young Morgan, in fact, was deprived of watching one-day internationals in his native Dublin.

He did see plenty of England in Test action - although he does not recall an especially successful era.

He said: "One-day cricket wasn't televised in Ireland, but there was a lot of Test cricket. I used to watch the West Indies come over and play and bomb the English. It was entertaining, to say the least ...

"Growing up watching it was fantastic."