‘England in best possible place’

LONDON: England captain Eoin Morgan believes his side are in “the best possible place” and is desperate for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 to get going.

Speaking on the sidelines of England’s World Cup kit launch on Tuesday, Morgan reflected on his side’s emphatic 4-0 series win against Pakistan, citing it as good prepara-tion before the start of the tournament.

“We’re as ready as we can be,” he said. “We’re positioned in the best possible place at the moment. We’d like to start playing tomorrow.”

The England skipper and the selection committee led by Ed Smith had some tough decisions to make for the final World Cup squad.

Jofra Archer’s inclusion meant David Willey, who had been a regular feature in England’s limited-overs side for last few years, was left out of the final 15-member squad. Morgan was at pains to stress that Willey and Joe Denly, the other absentee, would be England’s reserves in case of injuries.

“They were extremely tough decisions. Joe and Dave missing out is extremely unfortunate. I spoke to Dave and Joe last night and obviously said the longer term, with the length of the tournament we are likely to get injuries — they are next in line, no doubt about that.”

England had failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2015, losing to Bangladesh in the group stage at the Adelaide Oval. Since then, the team, under Morgan, has been the side to beat in limited-overs cricket, reaching the top position in the ICC ODI team rankings.

Morgan admitted their giant strides came as a surprise to him as well. “Our exceptional days are better than we could have imagined — the world records — I could never have seen those at the start of 2015,” he said, adding that he expects his side to inspire the next generation of cricketers with their fearless brand of cricket. The hosts open their World Cup campaign against South Africa at The Oval on May 30.