The 12th edition of ICC Cricket World is just few days away from its inception and though it has comparatively fewer number of participating nations than previous 6 editions, the tournament promises some exciting contests and individual performances right from the start.
The journey of 10 teams will last for almost 75 days starting from 30th May wherein they will compete against each other in a round-robin and knockout form.
A brief outlook regarding the English team which begin the race to the WC glory, from the very first place where it all started 44 years ago:-
The hosts enter the tournament as the firm favorites to lift their maiden trophy on their home soil. With the result of the previous 2 editions of ICC Cricket World Cup favoring the host nation (2011- India, 2015- Australia); Eoin Morgan led English side look to exploit the statistics and the home conditions to the best of their ability.
Entering into the World Cup as the top ranked ODI nation apart from hosting such a tournament will be an icing-to-the-cake for the countrymen. The 15- member English squad, last to confirm; just 10 days prior to the tournament look ahead to repeat its recent limited over dominance against Pakistan (4-0) in 5 match-ODI series into the World Cup.
Squad:- Eoin Morgan ©, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Butler (wk), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
The top-order batting comprising the likes of Roy, Bairstow, and Root, who were seen in action against the Champions trophy winners- Pakistan recently in 5 match ODI series, outplayed them completely. Though, both the squads scoring above 300 runs on an average in all the 4 matches, with 1 being washed out- the positives for the English team had been its top-order batsmen who provided a solid start for their squad consistently throughout the series. Ben Stokes and the captain, Eoin Morgan shuffled the roles of being a destructive finisher in the game as per the situation demand.
The bowlers (Woakes, Plunkett, Rashid) proved their mettle by keeping the opposition distant from the target on the board and made sure that a particular off-day of an individual bowler is backed up well by another on any particular day.
The squad needs to exploit the strength of Stokes in a more conservative manner re-defining the individual’s role in the upcoming WC. Ben has been phenomenal in his short spells, conserving the runs and also in capitalizing the scorecard through his fearless strokes in the end to give an additional cushion of 25-30 runs. However, the left-right hander all-rounder has much more in his books to contribute for English cricket in the upcoming edition of World Cup. Jofra Archer, too could turn out to be the X factor for the hosts as the Barbadian born cricketer received great support from Michael Vaughan and Fabian Cowdrey on social media regarding his ticket for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Booking the last ticket to board on the bus representing the home squad, the Sussex-ian will certainly look ahead to utilise all the experience gathered from Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019 and stand true upon his Sussex teammate Jordan, who indicated the capability of the youngster to the ECB.
Probable Playing XI-
- Jason Roy
- Jonny Bairstow
- Joe Root
- Eoin Morgan (c)
- Jos Butler (wk)
- Ben Stokes
- Moeen Ali
- Chris Woakes
- Adil Rashid
- Jofra Archer
- Mark Wood
Key players- Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer
