Eoin Morgan, the England captain, has issued a defiant rallying call to his players before the start of the World Cup, insisting: “We can win it”.
Morgan was speaking in Sydney ahead of England’s tournament opener against Australia at the MCG next weekend and left those present in no doubt as to his ambitions over the coming weeks.
“We’re here to win the World Cup,” said the Irishman. “That’s the bottom line. Like every other team, we’re here to get the best out of ourselves, and us at our best, we can win this World Cup”.
The evidence of the recent Tri-Series doesn’t quite bear out Morgan’s optimistic assessment, with England having beaten defending champions India twice but also losing all three of their games against co-hosts Australia, including last Sunday’s final in Perth by a 112-run margin.
Australia present a formidable challenge in Melbourne next weekend, but it is one Morgan believes his team are up to.
“If we front up and play as well as we can do or as well as we’ve shown in these last six months or so, absolutely we can beat Australia,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough challenge. They’ve had the majority of momentum throughout the summer, and they’ve had guys performing consistently, which again, we’re striving to do”.
Six of England’s probable starting XI for that game are likely to be World Cup virgins.
However, Morgan believes that could actually be an advantage.
“I think it makes it more exciting, guys with a lot of energy, guys are excited about being here, and again, there’s a huge emphasis on there being a huge carrot at the end of it,” he said. “Maybe once, twice in a career you have an opportunity to go and win a World Cup or be part of a World Cup side, so the opportunity is huge, and guys are really looking forward to it.
“It’s huge, considering the group of players that we have, the talent within the squad is untold. It’s certainly the most talented squad I’ve ever been a part of, and to get the opportunity to lead these group of players in a World Cup is huge.”
There were also words of disdain from Morgan for Dave Richardson, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council who this week called for bat sizes to be reduced.
Richardson had said: “The balance may have shifted a little bit too much because sometimes poor shots or mis-hits are going for six. Let us try and rectify that. The MCC, as law makers, and the ICC will be looking at giving perhaps some consideration to placing limitations on the depth of a bat in particular.”
However, Morgan countered: “It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. The fact that you can concentrate on the bat size when the rule changes have been made so that you bowl with two new balls, the ball is never any more old than 25 overs, and you even have an extra man in the circle. I think that’s a point in itself, but the bat size is ridiculous.
“I haven’t come across a bat yet where I’ve said this is ridiculous, or that this should be outlawed”.
