As most people already know, 2015 is a Cricket World Cup year, meaning that fans around the world begin to hope that their country has what it takes to win the trophy. How will the English side fare?
The England squad was announced in December, and the most high-profile names who missed the cut former captain Alastair Cook and young all-rounder Ben Stokes. Cook has been at the forefront of ridicule in recent times, resulting in the England management axing the main man from his duties as ODI captain. Stokes is in a similar boat, with his most recent summer ending in a disappointing way, although his Big Bash League performances over the past few weeks may leave fans wondering why he isn’t in Australia with the national side rather than playing in BBL Four.
As for the men going, the squad is a good mix between youth and experience, with young men like James Taylor and Alex Hales being selected. The ever-faithful Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and captain Eoin Morgan are also there, with the management looking for them to guide the younger players.
England’s top order may struggle in this tournament. As shown in the tri-series against Australia the other day, when both Bell and Taylor fell within the first three balls of the match. This puts heaps of pressure on the likes of Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler in the middle order, who therefore can’t focus on trying to get totals of over 300 when they have to come in to bat halfway through the innings to rebuild the top order failures. Ian Bell’s return to the side adds much more experience, but is he past his ODI best? Bell’s always been a class player, but he isn’t exactly of the calibre of Chris Gayle or Aaron Finch when it comes to the shorter forms of the game.
As for the bowling, Anderson and Broad will be a welcome sign, as the two veterans, who have endless experience on tours in Australia, should be able to get England on the front foot when defending or restricting a total. Steven Finn is over his hiccups of last year and looks set to join them as a third seamer, with either Jordan or Woakes the fourth. These five seamers are all arguably the best seamers in England at the moment, so it will be interesting to see if they are played in a rotational way or if one is left out in the cold for the tournament.
Peter Moore’s new look England has shown already that it has class and exciting players across each department, so trying to pick someone to stand out is a hard job. Chris Woakes was England’s shining light in Sri Lanka, taking fourteen wickets at an average of 25.28 and at an economy of 6.10 an over. Having declared this week himself that Anderson is England’s number one weapon in the attack, he will more than likely slip under the radar this tri-series, but come the big games England look to have unearthed a gem of player who can contribute with both bat and ball sufficiently enough in the international arena, with many comparing his game to that of a certain Andrew Flintoff.
In the short term though, this England team is still fairly new and coming to terms with the departure of Alastair Cook and his time as ODI skipper. This combined with senior players returning from outstanding injuries, I can’t see England being a major threat in this competition. There should be simple wins in the group against small time opponents such as Afghanistan and Scotland, but much like in 2011, I don’t see England qualifying the easy way and they may have to wait until the final game to qualify, perhaps even on Run Rate. Qualifying fourth would see them in a quarter final against the top of Group B, who would have the potential to be the favourites to win the entire tournament.
To summarise, I feel England will scrape a quarter-final spot, only to meet a stronger team such as India or South Africa in that round, and that stronger team will knock them out of the tournament. The main thing to take from this World Cup is experience for the younger players who haven’t been on this stage before and to test how this new look England side shapes up against some of the more well-oiled teams in the world at this time.
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