The ICC Cricket World Cup starts this week and there’s never been a more exciting time to be an England fan, who are the favourites to win the 2019 tournament for the first time in their history. Coach Trevor Bayliss has overseen an upturn in fortunes in recent years and 2019 could be the year England finally do it, and much of their success will depend on the performances of inspirational captain Eoin Morgan.
The Middlesex man has been speaking at England’s kit launch ahead of the 12th cricket World Cup, and he believes there’s no better opportunity for England to break their World Cup hoodoo. On three separate occasions, England have finished runners-up so Morgan knows the immortality that awaits if he can lead England to glory.
‘Best place possible’
“We are all keen to get going. We’re as ready as we can be,” Morgan said via the Guardian. “We have absolutely no regrets. We’re positioned in the best possible place at the moment. We’d like to start playing tomorrow. We’ve had some really good prep against Pakistan – I don’t think it could have gone better with the chopping and changing. Everyone just wants to get on with the tournament.”
Morgan and co. looked absolutely primed in their recent 4-0 ODI demolition of Pakistan, and it’s hard to look past England as World Cup winners. So much has happened since the dismal showing in the 2015 World Cup and Morgan believes England’s strength in depth could be a key factor into helping them on their quest for glory. Joe Denly and David Willey were the unlucky duo to miss the cut but Morgan confesses they could still be relied upon.
‘A tough decision’
The reason for the exclusions is owed mainly to the terrific form of Jofra Archer, who Morgan believes has a very bright future in the game and deemed it nigh on impossible not to include Archer.
“Jofra has come in and done exactly what he’s been doing for Sussex and other franchise teams around the world. He’s very young with a lot of cricket ahead and if he continues to improve throughout his career he’s a very exciting prospect. It is [hard on Willey] but a tough decision had to be made and hopefully the right one for the squad.”
12th man
This will be the fifth time the World Cup has been held in England and something else Morgan believes will bode in their favour is the home support, who’ll be eagerly anticipating a strong and confident display from the team.
“The crowd will definitely be our 12th man. It’s a huge opportunity, we’re looking to go out and express ourselves and continue to play as we have in the last four years.”
“We want to inspire the next generation of cricketers to come into the game and hopefully come out of the tournament worshipping one of the guys in our team,” Morgan said.
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