Ashes series, 25 November-6 January:
Coverage: Live commentary on Test Match Special, text commentaries, reports and scorecards on BBC Sport website & Ceefax; regular bulletins on BBC Radio 5 live; also live on Sky Sports 1

Morgan (right) watches from the sidelines as England take on Australia A

By Jamie Lillywhite

As England's second string bowlers ran through Australia A in Hobart, perhaps the most frustrated man in the ground was Eoin Morgan.

The 24-year-old Middlesex batsman, keen to prove he is more than a one-day finisher, has yet to be given a taste of the action on his first Ashes tour.

But he knows he could be only a fractured finger or shoulder strain away from a place in the Test line-up - and a chance to allay that unwanted tag.

Labels are inexorably linked with sport and its practitioners.

Volatile pacemen, mercurial midfielders, inspirational skippers, flamboyant Frenchmen, gifted playmakers and talismanic all-rounders. Everyone, it seems, need to be neatly bracketed and pigeon-holed.

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In early 2010 Kevin Pietersen was short of runs, Andrew Flintoff was soon to retire and English cricket needed a new hero.

Morgan burst on to the scene with a series of breathtaking innings in Twenty20 and one-day internationals and the England hierarchy was convinced it had found one.

The Dublin-born left-hander had made a seamless transition from the lower echelons of international cricket with Ireland, combining some thrillingly unorthodox whippy reverse shots cultivated from his early days playing hurling, with sweetly struck textbook strokes down the ground and on both sides of the wicket.

He was also able to display an unflappable temperament and win matches single-handedly by timing run chases to perfection.

As with labels, sporting comparisons are also ubiquitous and Morgan was immediately likened to Australian left-hander Michael Bevan, one of the most prolific one-day batsmen of the modern era and renowned for his exceptional judgement in chasing down totals.

Bevan played in 232 one-day internationals from 1994-2004, scoring 6,912 runs at an average of 53, with six centuries.

He made 82 on his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1994, but was unable to make a century and after 18 Tests and an average of 29 was consigned to the "one-day specialist" role. For England, diminutive left-hander (note, another tag) Neil Fairbrother was a key member of the one-day side but was another to struggle at Test level.

Morgan is deceived by Saaed Ajmal's spin in the Test series with Pakistan

As for Morgan, England were anxious to try him in the Test arena, and resting Paul Collingwood for the two early summer matches against Bangladesh allowed them the opportunity to do so.

After getting out when set in his first two innings against the Tigers doubts were raised about his suitability for the longest form of the game and although he hit a century against Pakistan only 28 runs came in his final four innings of the summer and murmurs of technical deficiencies resurfaced.

So is it possible that Morgan - even with his undoubted talents - might not succeed in the five-day game, and what, if any, significant changes does he need to make?

BBC Sport spoke to former England batsman Graeme Fowler, who had a healthy average in the 30's in both Test and one-day formats.

"It takes a lot to get used to Test cricket and a lot of players have taken a long time," the amiable former Lancashire opener said.

"If you look at Mike Gatting's Test career it's in two parts, he didn't make a century in his first 30 matches, not many people get 30 Tests, but I don't think Morgan will need that many."

So why are many talented players, destined for great things, dubbed merely ODI specialists?

"Cricketers talk about that all the time. In a one-day game the scoreboard dictates things - are we getting enough? are we scoring fast enough? and some thought processes are taken out," suggested Fowler.

"At Test level occupation of the crease is paramount.

"There are people trying to get you out, not merely contain you, and if you make a mistake you tend to pay for it with more attacking fields - where you might get away with it in a one-dayer.

"There are critical choices, you have to decide on the merits of each ball and a three-hour 60 can be more beneficial to a team than 60 from 60 balls.

I hope people give him a run because I think he is an exceptional talent who can succeed at Test level Former England batsman Graeme Fowler on Eoin Morgan's future

"Once Neil Fairbrother didn't do so well in Test matches he perceived the only way he could play international cricket was in one-day games and he almost amended his game to that genre completely.

"With Bevan if you roughed him up in Test cricket he threw in the towel but in one-dayers you could only bowl one short ball an over.

"Morgan is incredibly inventive but there is a lot more to him, a lot more immediate depth to him.

"With his background he can draw from two games, one [hurling] that people in international cricket would not be aware of.

"There have been people who have transferred from other games, you could usually spot a hockey player because they smashed it through point, but Morgan has so many options with his shots.

"He has also learned to play the correct way, he has a solid base and a sound technique."

Should Morgan be handed an opportunity to make his Ashes debut the experience of playing down under will provide a host of new challenges.

"First of all it is a fearsome environment to play in, quite hostile and not just on the field," states Fowler. "In a restaurant, bar, even in a taxi, people will come up and say 'we're going to stuff you.'

"There's also a massive difference between opening the batting in England and Australia. There with the Kookaburra ball it bounces more, swings all over the place and zips off their faster wickets.

"But that does not last long and once it dies down, if Morgan goes in in the middle order, he'll be OK. If he has to go in early in the innings it will be a completely different test for him.

"I hope people give him a run because I think he is an exceptional talent who can succeed at Test level. If he does I think he can go on to do great things."

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