Not your usual cricket story but thankfully it has been resolved
The Evening Standard broke a rather unusual cricket story today, one that centred on England’s one-day captain Eoin Morgan.
The 28-year-old Dubliner has apparently been the victim of a blackmail plot that was intended to extort £35,000 (€45,000) from the England Cricket Board (ECB).
The ECB said that a man contacted them demanding £35,000 before the first ball of of the first Tri-Series match between England and Australia tomorrow.
Paul Downton, managing director of the ECB said: “There were references to a relationship that Eoin Morgan had five years ago with a single Australian lady.
“It was brief relationship five years ago and what appears to be a fairly deliberate attempt to extort a sum of money from the ECB.”
https://twitter.com/TaraRidgway/status/482978727757099008
Morgan, who recently replaced Alastair Cook as England’s one-day skipper, has been in a long-term relationship with Tara Ridgway and was kept in formed of the incident as it played out.
The suspect, traced to a location in Hobart, Tasmania, is reported to have found a phone belonging to his current girlfriend which had information about the relationship Morgan had her, including a video, and he threatened to reveal these details to the media.
The ECB contacted the police and the man accused of making the threat met with the ECB and the matter will go no further.
Downton said: “We contacted the Metropolitan Police and a brief investigation tracked down this individual. He has now apologised saying it was not intended to go this far.
“The ECB will not be pressing charges and the matter is now closed. The players will not be saying anything further at this moment.”
