London: Confidence levels are soaring so high in the England team that captain Eoin Morgan wishes the World Cup was starting tomorrow.
England named their 15-man squad on Tuesday in the wake of a 4-0 hammering of Pakistan that underlined their place as favourites for the tournament which starts on home soil next Thursday when they take on South Africa.
“We’d like to start playing tomorrow,” Morgan said at an event in east London to unveil England’s new light blue kit.
“We’ve had some really good prep against Pakistan, I don’t think it could have gone better.
“I’ve got absolutely no regrets. We’re positioned in the best possible place at the moment.”
England racked up three totals of 350 plus against Pakistan, playing the kind of attacking cricket that was unimaginable when they limped out of the 2015 World Cup at the group stage.
Morgan, who was drafted in as skipper just before the start of their ill-fated tournament four years ago, said a home World Cup was a massive chance for the players to write their names into English cricket folklore.
“The crowd will definitely be our 12th man. It’s a huge opportunity, we’re looking to go out and express ourselves and continue to play as we have in the last four years,” he said.
England’s rise from flops four years ago to the world’s best one-day side, has even surprised Morgan under whose leadership England have twice smashed the ODI world record.
They scored 444-3 versus Pakistan in 2016 and topped that with 481-6 against Australia last year.
“Our exceptional days are better than we could have imagined,” he said. “I could never have seen those at the start of 2015. That expectation has shifted with the level of performance. But it’s also brought our worst performances up.”
