Eoin Morgan, who led England to their historic ODI World Cup victory in 2019, made a bold statement for the Jos Buttler-led team ahead of the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
Morgan believes that winning the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India would be an even greater achievement for England than their maiden World Cup victory on home soil in 2019.
The former England captain highlighted the significant differences between the preparations for the two World Cup campaigns. Leading up to 2019, England had only focused on the World Cup, and this allowed them to prioritize their best players and create a well-defined team.
But leading to the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023, Jos Buttler hardly got his strong team, as they were more focusing on Test cricket and Ashes, so they will face tough challenges in India.
Eoin Morgan wrote in his column for Sky Sports: “The challenges for me going into 2019 were completely different to what Jos has gone through coming into this tournament. Between 2015 and 2019, our sole focus was trying to win the ODI World Cup at home. There was a clear emphasis on having your best players available in the year leading up and trying to get absolute role clarity in every position possible. Jos has not had that.”
He added, “There has been a complete change in mindset in English cricket where Test cricket is now the out-and-out priority. Only on very few occasions in T20s and ODIs has Jos had his best side available. This has been an Ashes year, a huge year for Ben Stokes and his red-ball team. Quietly behind the scenes Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott have been planning for this World Cup but, if you asked them, they would probably say it has been unbelievably challenging.”
Morgan on the injuries ahead of CWC 2023 wrote, “They would have wanted everyone in peak fitness before leaving for India but Mark Wood has not bowled in a competitive game since the last Ashes Test in July. The side has chopped and changed quite a lot while there were question marks over the squad with the late omission of Jason Roy and the inclusion of Harry Brook.”
He signed off by saying, “All things considered, it would without a doubt be a bigger achievement for England to win this World Cup than when we won in 2019. The nature of the schedule has not allowed them to have the type of preparation they would like and being away from home, especially in India where India are so strong, is tough. Winning here would carry a lot more weight than winning at home. I am still extremely hopeful that England can defend the title, though.”
(Skysports Inputs)
