The 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is less than one month away to begin. England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan is confident about their success in the upcoming tournament.
England and Wales will host the upcoming 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup from 30th May to 14th July. Despite being one of the oldest international cricket teams, England has never won the Cricket World Cup yet.
The present no.1-ranked ODI side England will play the upcoming World Cup as the host side. Their captain Eoin Morgan believes that they are in enough strong position at the present moment.
Recently he told City A.M, “I think we’re in as strong a position as we could be at this stage. I think we’d be nervous if we were chasing a style of play or identity as a team, or looking for things that weren’t there. But the fact that we’ve been on this journey now for four years, and played some good cricket along the way, particularly at home, gives us more of an element of excitement.”
In the opening match of the upcoming World Cup, England will face South Africa at The Oval on 30th May.
England’s recent success hasn’t changed their attitude
England had a disastrous record in the last Cricket World Cup where they failed to qualify for the knockout stages. However, since then, this European side has hugely improved in their games. Morgan has claimed that their recent success hasn’t changed their game.
He added, “Over the last two years, being close to world No.1 and then being No.1 hasn’t changed us a lot. Getting there is a huge acknowledgement of the work we’ve been doing and going in the right direction, but how we got there remains the goal and the desire to continuously improve remains one of the aspects of our team. Continuing in that vein does create a lot of expectation, but the expectation is there for a reason, because we have played well.”
Eoin Morgan spoke about the English squad
Before the upcoming World Cup, England will play six ODIs and one T20I. On 3rd May, they will face the host side Ireland at The Village (Dublin). Later, England will play one-off home T20I and five-match home ODI series against Pakistan from 5th May to 19th May.
While England has recently announced their World Cup squad, some of them are not in the squads for the upcoming international matches. Eoin Morgan believes that it is an important time to test the other players.
He said, “We will obviously be looking at the same players who have played over the last four years, but it’ll be a matter of looking at guys who are in form and contributing to wins.
“There will be opportunities for everybody to play because we haven’t had serious injuries since Olly Stone back in the summer last year, so the law of averages suggests we’re probably due an injury. We need more than that 15 initially; we need guys who are ready to come in and play.”
We’ve had constant competition for places – Eoin Morgan
Morgan is also happy to see the present competitive attitude in England’s playing XI.
The English limited-overs captain quoted, “We’ve had constant competition for places – we’ve had guys who have been left out at different times and probably would have played in any other team in the world, or been given an opportunity at some stage.
“We had one with Jonny Bairstow, where he was left out for quite some time and was always the next batsman in, which is unfortunate for him. But the level of trust that we put in the guys we have selected in the final XI needs to remain in order to continue playing the way that we play.”
Talking more about their playing XI selection, Morgan has emphasised on the team attitude.
He added, “When you select a player in a squad or a team it’s not purely on performance. Their accountability and what they offer in the changing room and around the team is added in as well because World Cups and trophies are won by teams, not individuals and it’s important that you continue to give to a team and a culture as opposed to taking away.”
According to Morgan, they are ready for the upcoming World Cup challenge. England’s best result in the Cricket World Cup is runners-up three times (1979, 1987 and 1992). However, the Eoin Morgan side is now desperate to finish their long and frustrating wait to win the Cricket World Cup.