England has been installed as the clear favourites to win the World Cup this summer after topping the world ODI rankings for the past year. Eoin Morgan’s side usurped India as the world’s top-rated team in May 2018 and they have held that ranking ever since.
The World Cup is taking place on home soil for the first time in 20 years and England have a great chance of securing a maiden triumph. However, a huge amount of pressure has been heaped upon their shoulders and their rivals are looking dangerous, so they will have to remain strong and consistent throughout the tournament if they are to prevail.
Preparations have been plunged into chaos after Alex Hales was axed from the squad for failing a second recreational drug test. It has forced Morgan and head coach Trevor Bayliss to devote far too much time and energy to matters off the field in the build-up to the tournament.
The action gets underway when England take on South Africa at The Oval on May 30 and they can ill afford further distractions in the next few weeks. They have the talent to win the World Cup, but they need to prepare properly and Morgan must maintain a strong and united dressing room.
England has played ruthless cricket in the last four years.
The captain revealed he has a meeting with fellow senior players Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes and they decided it to request that Hales was deselected. “We will need at least 15 men to win that World Cup,” said Morgan. “Whatever way Alex would have dealt with the furore surrounding the drugs ban, the other 14 people would have been dragged down and that would have been quite a weight taken forward. That outweighed his performance.”
England can now make a clean break, albeit without the services of their much-feared reserve batsman. Yet the selectors face another huge obstacle in the form of Jofra Archer. The Barbados-born quick became eligible for England on March 17 after completing newly implemented residency criteria.
Archer was not chosen for England’s provisional 15-man World Cup squad, but he has been named in the 17-man collective to face Ireland and Pakistan in the build-up to the competition. He has the chance to prove his worth and usurp one of the existing bowlers in the squad. There is a strong case for including him, as he has dazzled with his pace all year, but cutting an existing member of the tightly knit squad risks sparking disharmony in the England camp.
Archer made his debut in the match against Ireland on Friday and he saw his first ball driven square for four by Paul Stirling. He initially struggled to make an impact, but he really impressed in a second spell with the ball as he removed Mark Adair with a ferocious yorker and displayed great speed.
However, his presence in the squad has clearly compelled his fellow batsmen to up their performance levels and Liam Plunkett and Tom Curran shared seven wickets for 70 runs. Competition for places is a good thing and if the threat of Archer can inspire England’s bowlers to hit greater heights then England’s World Cup chances will receive a huge boost.
Root is going to be the fulcrum of the batting order.
Hales will be a miss, but England has enough firepower in Root, Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Morgan, Jason Roy and Stokes to cope. Roy is nursing an injury, as is Joe Denly, and fans will hope both men recover in time for the World Cup.
But England has no other injury concerns and they certainly appear to boost the greatest strength in depth of any team at the tournament. Playing on the home soul is another huge factor in their favour, and they will bid to follow in the footsteps of the England football team in 1966 and the rugby team of 2003 by seizing glory as the host nation.
Anyone looking at the World Cup cricket spreads will see that they are favourites to go on and win the World Cup, but the level of competition will be fierce. India, led by the magnificent talents of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, is the most experienced side in the tournament and they will mount a strong challenge. Pakistan will take an exciting young team to the World Cup, while South Africa and New Zealand look strong.
Yet arguably the greatest threat comes from a revitalised Australia side. They will be full of confidence after a 3-2 series victory over India and a 5-0 triumph over Pakistan in March. They now welcome the Steve Smith and David Warner back to the team and the disgraced duo will be desperate to write some positive headlines by driving their team to success. They are sure to be jeered by the home fans, but they are seasoned professionals and they can shrug it off. The Australian squad is packed full of talent and they will present formidable opposition for England.
However, rivals will all be wary of facing Morgan’s men. They have pulled off some magnificent results over the past few years and they have not lost a series since 2017. In that time, they have whitewashed Australia and eviscerated India, so they should head into the tournament full of confidence. If there are no further controversies off the field and Morgan is not presented with any major injury problems then England really should be able to go on and lift the famous trophy at Lord’s on July 14.