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ICC Cricket World Cup 2019
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Not a fan of Shekhar Gupta but that is a good video. Kohli does have a lot of power right now and needs someone to hold him accountable for some decisions
Great long read from The Telegraph
https://headtopics.com/uk/courage-u...-became-the-world-s-best-cricket-team-6847820
Courage, unity, respect: The inside story of how England became the world's best cricket team
#CWC19: How did England become the world's best cricket team? Here's the inside story
CWC19: How did England become the world's best cricket team? Here's the inside story
England's ODI team was a laughing stock earlier this decade. On the eve of the 2019 World Cup they are favourites to win it. How did the transformation happen?
But in November, in the days between the one-day series and preparations for the three Test matches against Sri Lanka that would follow – a rare time when players from both formats were in the same place at the same time - the room was cleared for a very important meeting, the details of which can be revealed for the first time.
Chairs had been laid out and an overhead projector put in place by the hotel staff for a presentation by Eoin Morgan and Joe Root, England’s two captains. It was time for Morgan and Root to reveal months of secret work on a new team ethos. Driven by the events outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017 – which shocked them into realising something had to change – Morgan and Root got down to work and did their research.
Morgan also took note of how the All Blacks changed their Haka, and the role all the players had in that decision.
Helped by David Young, the England team’s sports psychologist, Morgan and Root came up with their own philosophy using a simple visual reminder the players see and wear every day.
Then Morgan and Root turned to each of the three Lions, giving them individual meanings:
From multiple interviews conducted over a seven-month period with players, coaches, backroom staff and administrators, Telegraph Sport can reveal for the first time the crucial factors that have gone into driving England to the top of the rankings, making them World Cup favourites.
Morgan is a student of leadership, one who is constantly trying to learn how to adapt lessons from the outside “real” world to cricket.
Reaching No1 in the world in May 2018 came early for Morgan. He pinpoints the series wins in Australia and New Zealand leading into that summer as high points because matches were won by bowlers, not necessarily the batsmen. “The bowlers put down a marker to say that we are containing to get better and were the strong point of the winter. That made us a more rounded side,” says Morgan.
Wood bowled quickly having not played in the Ashes, Woakes was Man of the Series against New Zealand, and Curran won the final ODI in Perth.
Morgan would rather they failed while being aggressive than take the easy option and retreat after a batting collapse, only to lose anyway. He has committed his career to the job and it would not be a surprise if he resigns at the end of the World Cup, believing he has done all he can.
That game plan is closely guarded, for understandable reasons, but when boiled down, it is simple.
Morgan has a good relationship with coach Trevor Bayliss
He never loses his temper, he is controlled and knows when to keep his distance. He has a natural understanding with Trevor Bayliss, the coach. They speak the same cricketing language. Keep it simple, take the pressure off. This England side never has whole team meetings. Bayliss hates meetings, he thinks they are a waste of time.
“It doesn’t work as well with the Test side because the players are more junior and need more guidance, but it works for the ODI side because of the captain and the experience within the side. People talk about a leadership vacuum within the Test side, but in the ODI set-up there is real direction.”
Morgan was in Hyderabad, having breakfast at the Sunrisers team hotel, preparing for a game two days later against Bangalore. Instead of telling him he had lost his job, Strauss asked him if he wanted to stay on. It was the first of two occasions when Morgan thought he might lose his job. We will come to the second later on.
“I knew Eoin well. I knew what he brought to the party. I knew the way he played his cricket and knew him as a person because I had played a lot with him for England and Middlesex. It wasn’t a case of me sounding him out. The feeling was ‘what am I looking for and who is the best guy in the team environment to role model that’. He was exactly the sort of person I was looking for.
They talked about how everything had to change. Morgan wanted players to whom aggression came naturally, even when out of form and backed into a corner. Farbrace backed him to the hilt, playing a vital supporting role at such a crucial juncture of the team’s rebirth.
Bayliss wanted Jason Roy in the side having worked with him at the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash. Roy, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes, Buttler and Morgan would be the core of the aggressive batting order. Root the anchor.
“Someone said at the end of the meeting we could be 70 all out with that batting line-up,” says another team source. “It was said as a joke, but was also serious too. But we stuck with it and that selection was a big statement. It was a crucial start.”
“We wanted a top seven that are all match-winners and not too many of those kind of play-maker guys who set the game up. We wanted a spinner who turned it both ways. We wanted those sort of players who scare the opposition.”
England lost the third ODI at the Rose Bowl, bowled out for 302 in 45.2 overs chasing big hits. But for Morgan the most crucial moment came before the next match at Trent Bridge.
In the final match at Chester-le-Street Morgan was out first ball attempting a six; Jonny Bairstow came in for an injured Buttler, played the same way, and won the game to prove England had depth.
There, Graham Thorpe, the one-day team’s batting coach for the past four years, was working with a young Buttler and Stokes.
England use five different weighted balls in practice. Heavy ones for hitting hard, so it feels easier when batting against a real ball. Lighter ones for slip catching, different colours for swing and seam. They have recently brought in new balls, light hockey-style ones, to help slip fielders experience the wobble in the air created by the pace of Jofra Archer.
“Hand speed is one thing they all have, but also the ability to be able to keep options open,” Thorpe explains. “Some younger players might think ‘I’m going to smash it over row Z’ and that is the only thing in their mind. But what happens if the ball is not in that position? Can the positioning of your body still allow you to hit the ball in three or four different areas. That is what a lot of these guys can do.
It does not always work. England have lost games they should have won against South Africa, Australia and, most famously, the Champions Trophy semi-final against Pakistan in 2017, when they failed to recalibrate the aggressive approach for the conditions of the day.
June 10, 2017, and England have just played the perfect match, knocking world champions Australia out of the Champions Trophy. It was a moment of triumph; confirmation that England were a force to be respected. But it would also be a hollow victory for the players who learned a valuable, if painful, lesson that day.
It taught Morgan and England’s senior players a hard lesson. It is not over until it is over. Do not get ahead of yourselves.
Credit: Action Images via Reuters / Andrew Couldridge Livepic
Crushing disappointment makes you stronger. Morgan had been there before.
Morgan looked at his devastated players in the dressing room at Eden Gardens and addressed his stunned team. His speech was direct. According to a player in the room at the time he said: “Never think you have won a game.
Morgan would soon have good reason to be thankful for the ECB loyalty, something that some of his predecessors were never granted.
Over the course of the next two months, the Bangladesh government had to provide cast-iron assurances that England players would receive presidential-style security when they toured in October for a one-day series followed by two Test matches.
Morgan knew what was at stake, his time as England captain could be over.
Buttler led England to victory in a fractious series against a Bangladesh side with a formidable home record. Another staging post in the development of this team had been crossed.
Leamon disagrees. He believes Moores used fewer stats than any of the three England coaches he has worked under. Instead, the statistics that were used were interpreted in a way that limited ambition, and scared players out of taking risks.
Then for the two years leading in to a World Cup the important numbers are team strike rates, win-loss percentage, total caps and average caps per player (70-80). The quarter and semi-finalists of all World Cups came in the top two or three in those categories. When they didn’t come in the top two or three, they would be the host nation.”
A change in playing regulations after the last World Cup also meant a different approach was required. At the 2015 tournament only four fielders were allowed outside the inner ring in the final 10 overs. A second batting powerplay was available, and was normally taken between the 35-40th overs.
Leamon uses a cycling analogy. He compares 50-over batting under the new regulations to a time trial. Riders gradually increase effort over the whole course, rather than canter for three-fifths and then thrash it at the end.
It leaves the power hitters to attack at the end with England having a higher boundary percentage (15.23) in the final 10 overs than any other side over the past two years.
The players have footage they can view on their iPads, clipped together to show an opponent’s weaknesses against certain deliveries, or where he likes to score.
Morgan is instinctive as a captain and Bayliss is not a numbers man. Morgan goes off script, but has become more interested by data analysis over the past year.
The attack, though, is not built around pace or seam, surely a first for an English team. It is Rashid who holds the key and was one of the first players Bayliss and Morgan identified when they ripped up the team. He has taken 129 wickets at 29.68 since the last World Cup, more than any other bowler in the world. When he plays Test cricket, Rashid looks timid and lacking in self-belief. But put him in the blue of England’s one-day team and he is transformed. The boundary protection and nature of ODI cricket suits him of course, but the confidence is down to more than that.
“As a spinner you need backing and the biggest thing is if you do get hit for a couple of fours, the captain does not take his cap off, throw it down on the floor and kick it,” says his great friend Moeen. “You need the captain to say ‘come back the next over’ and Morgy does that. There are also times when you are bowling well, getting hit and it feels like the batter is lining you up and he takes you off. You never question that. I have had times when I’ve been bowling well and Morgy has come up to me and said you are not playing this game because we want one spinner and we are picking Rash. It has been the other way round too, and I have played ahead of Rash but you know what Morgs is doing is for the best of the team. You, as a player, accept that.”
“In the old days, even when we had a bowler as good as Graeme Swann bowling in the middle overs, we found it very hard to apply pressure, especially when there were two set batsmen. We were not asking them searching questions. Adil asks a lot of questions and has grown massively in terms of stature and confidence. He has real clarity about the role he is playing in the team.”
While Rashid has the googly, Moeen, as an off-spinner, relies on changes of pace and flight. “In one-day cricket your stock ball at pace is your main thing as a finger spinner because you don’t have the googly or doosra. With my bowling it is more about trying to think what the batter is going to do next and trying to second guess him. I just try to bowl a good over so the guys like Plunkett can really attack and use their skills. I try to control the game in that middle bit, controlling the run rate.”
Inevitably there have been clashes with management and players. Bayliss challenges them when they are bowled out in under 50 overs. He asks were they committed to playing aggressive cricket, were you trying to sit in and defend or did you just execute shots poorly? The players have pushed back at management too.
That was shattered in Bangladesh when he was quick to stand up to provocative sledging in Dhaka and, more importantly, at home during a series against Pakistan when he decided England’s fielding had to improve.
The coaches were hitting balls along the ground to the boundary fielders, telling them to take a moment to steady their body and be balanced before throwing the ball back to the middle.
Buttler told the coaches they had to match the intent with the bat and ball in the field too. Instead of taking that extra moment to be balanced, players should learn to pick up one handed and throw in as quickly as possible to the keeper.
“Jos’s attitude was don’t be safe throwing the ball. The batters take risks, the bowlers look for wickets, so match that same intent with fielding,” says an England source.
Since then England’s ground fielding has improved markedly, only New Zealand and Australia are as good or better. It is all about intent with Morgan and Buttler. No let up.
The pressure does mean players let go and Morgan knows the culture of the team started to drift after the Champions Trophy. Bristol, September 2017, was when it all went too far. The events that night have been well documented, but the long-term impact was to cast Hales out from the rest of his team. There was sympathy for Stokes, surprisingly, given his actions, but less so for Hales. The management were incensed that the morning after Stokes’s arrest, he did not tell the coach or captain what had happened.
The relationship between Hales and Stokes remained cordial, but grew distant as the case wore on and particularly after the trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Hales was seen by his team-mates as someone who had failed to learn from what happened, as proved by his subsequent drug ban and dropping from the England side. None stood up for him when consulted about whether he should be dropped.
Morgan was unequivocal. Having introduced his team philosophy in the Shangri-La in November, there was no way Hales could stay in the side. He had failed to protect the team and uphold the values of courage, unity and respect.
Stokes has changed. He trains harder than ever before, too hard in some cases, and feels he has to be the perfect role model all the time. During the tour to Sri Lanka last year, some of the England players watched a rugby international between New Zealand and England in the Cheers pub, down in the basement of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo. It was a rowdy night, but Stokes went home halfway through the game, feeling uncomfortable.
He is more aware of his surroundings and takes himself out of potentially dodgy situations.
He has thrown himself into fitness work. When he suffered cramp during a hammering in the fifth ODI in Colombo last year having trained for three hours the night before, Morgan told the team after the match they had nothing to prove. “He told the lads, ‘let’s be smart, we are working our arses off. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. We trust each other’,” says a source. The message was aimed at Stokes.
England spent 41 days in the Shangri-La hotel on that tour, the players loved the Table One restaurant so much they even squeezed in an extra night there breaking up the journey between Galle and Kandy after the first Test.
“It has established a lot of leaders within the group and it makes this summer more exciting. One of our goals in order to be competing in the 2019 World Cup was to be ranked in the top three in the world. We have been No1 since last year. There has been no drop off. When we became No1, which was not a particular goal, we spoke about how we should not train like the best side in the world, we should train like the second or third best side in the world looking to continually get better, train better and continually trying to add value to the side. That is a really healthy place to be.”
Can they do it? “Teams that win World Cups in any sport deep down believe they can win it,” says Strauss. “Very occasionally you get a team that has a great run and shocks everyone including themselves, but by and large it is the big teams who know they can win it, who think they are the best, who come through. These guys know they can win the World Cup. I don’t think any England team has known that before. Yes, they have hoped, but they have not known it like this team.”
Read more: The Telegraph
https://headtopics.com/uk/courage-u...-became-the-world-s-best-cricket-team-6847820
Courage, unity, respect: The inside story of how England became the world's best cricket team
#CWC19: How did England become the world's best cricket team? Here's the inside story
CWC19: How did England become the world's best cricket team? Here's the inside story
England's ODI team was a laughing stock earlier this decade. On the eve of the 2019 World Cup they are favourites to win it. How did the transformation happen?
But in November, in the days between the one-day series and preparations for the three Test matches against Sri Lanka that would follow – a rare time when players from both formats were in the same place at the same time - the room was cleared for a very important meeting, the details of which can be revealed for the first time.
Chairs had been laid out and an overhead projector put in place by the hotel staff for a presentation by Eoin Morgan and Joe Root, England’s two captains. It was time for Morgan and Root to reveal months of secret work on a new team ethos. Driven by the events outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017 – which shocked them into realising something had to change – Morgan and Root got down to work and did their research.
Morgan also took note of how the All Blacks changed their Haka, and the role all the players had in that decision.
Helped by David Young, the England team’s sports psychologist, Morgan and Root came up with their own philosophy using a simple visual reminder the players see and wear every day.
Then Morgan and Root turned to each of the three Lions, giving them individual meanings:
From multiple interviews conducted over a seven-month period with players, coaches, backroom staff and administrators, Telegraph Sport can reveal for the first time the crucial factors that have gone into driving England to the top of the rankings, making them World Cup favourites.
Morgan is a student of leadership, one who is constantly trying to learn how to adapt lessons from the outside “real” world to cricket.
Reaching No1 in the world in May 2018 came early for Morgan. He pinpoints the series wins in Australia and New Zealand leading into that summer as high points because matches were won by bowlers, not necessarily the batsmen. “The bowlers put down a marker to say that we are containing to get better and were the strong point of the winter. That made us a more rounded side,” says Morgan.
Wood bowled quickly having not played in the Ashes, Woakes was Man of the Series against New Zealand, and Curran won the final ODI in Perth.
Morgan would rather they failed while being aggressive than take the easy option and retreat after a batting collapse, only to lose anyway. He has committed his career to the job and it would not be a surprise if he resigns at the end of the World Cup, believing he has done all he can.
That game plan is closely guarded, for understandable reasons, but when boiled down, it is simple.
Morgan has a good relationship with coach Trevor Bayliss
He never loses his temper, he is controlled and knows when to keep his distance. He has a natural understanding with Trevor Bayliss, the coach. They speak the same cricketing language. Keep it simple, take the pressure off. This England side never has whole team meetings. Bayliss hates meetings, he thinks they are a waste of time.
“It doesn’t work as well with the Test side because the players are more junior and need more guidance, but it works for the ODI side because of the captain and the experience within the side. People talk about a leadership vacuum within the Test side, but in the ODI set-up there is real direction.”
Morgan was in Hyderabad, having breakfast at the Sunrisers team hotel, preparing for a game two days later against Bangalore. Instead of telling him he had lost his job, Strauss asked him if he wanted to stay on. It was the first of two occasions when Morgan thought he might lose his job. We will come to the second later on.
“I knew Eoin well. I knew what he brought to the party. I knew the way he played his cricket and knew him as a person because I had played a lot with him for England and Middlesex. It wasn’t a case of me sounding him out. The feeling was ‘what am I looking for and who is the best guy in the team environment to role model that’. He was exactly the sort of person I was looking for.
They talked about how everything had to change. Morgan wanted players to whom aggression came naturally, even when out of form and backed into a corner. Farbrace backed him to the hilt, playing a vital supporting role at such a crucial juncture of the team’s rebirth.
Bayliss wanted Jason Roy in the side having worked with him at the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash. Roy, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes, Buttler and Morgan would be the core of the aggressive batting order. Root the anchor.
“Someone said at the end of the meeting we could be 70 all out with that batting line-up,” says another team source. “It was said as a joke, but was also serious too. But we stuck with it and that selection was a big statement. It was a crucial start.”
“We wanted a top seven that are all match-winners and not too many of those kind of play-maker guys who set the game up. We wanted a spinner who turned it both ways. We wanted those sort of players who scare the opposition.”
England lost the third ODI at the Rose Bowl, bowled out for 302 in 45.2 overs chasing big hits. But for Morgan the most crucial moment came before the next match at Trent Bridge.
In the final match at Chester-le-Street Morgan was out first ball attempting a six; Jonny Bairstow came in for an injured Buttler, played the same way, and won the game to prove England had depth.
There, Graham Thorpe, the one-day team’s batting coach for the past four years, was working with a young Buttler and Stokes.
England use five different weighted balls in practice. Heavy ones for hitting hard, so it feels easier when batting against a real ball. Lighter ones for slip catching, different colours for swing and seam. They have recently brought in new balls, light hockey-style ones, to help slip fielders experience the wobble in the air created by the pace of Jofra Archer.
“Hand speed is one thing they all have, but also the ability to be able to keep options open,” Thorpe explains. “Some younger players might think ‘I’m going to smash it over row Z’ and that is the only thing in their mind. But what happens if the ball is not in that position? Can the positioning of your body still allow you to hit the ball in three or four different areas. That is what a lot of these guys can do.
It does not always work. England have lost games they should have won against South Africa, Australia and, most famously, the Champions Trophy semi-final against Pakistan in 2017, when they failed to recalibrate the aggressive approach for the conditions of the day.
June 10, 2017, and England have just played the perfect match, knocking world champions Australia out of the Champions Trophy. It was a moment of triumph; confirmation that England were a force to be respected. But it would also be a hollow victory for the players who learned a valuable, if painful, lesson that day.
It taught Morgan and England’s senior players a hard lesson. It is not over until it is over. Do not get ahead of yourselves.
Credit: Action Images via Reuters / Andrew Couldridge Livepic
Crushing disappointment makes you stronger. Morgan had been there before.
Morgan looked at his devastated players in the dressing room at Eden Gardens and addressed his stunned team. His speech was direct. According to a player in the room at the time he said: “Never think you have won a game.
Morgan would soon have good reason to be thankful for the ECB loyalty, something that some of his predecessors were never granted.
Over the course of the next two months, the Bangladesh government had to provide cast-iron assurances that England players would receive presidential-style security when they toured in October for a one-day series followed by two Test matches.
Morgan knew what was at stake, his time as England captain could be over.
Buttler led England to victory in a fractious series against a Bangladesh side with a formidable home record. Another staging post in the development of this team had been crossed.
Leamon disagrees. He believes Moores used fewer stats than any of the three England coaches he has worked under. Instead, the statistics that were used were interpreted in a way that limited ambition, and scared players out of taking risks.
Then for the two years leading in to a World Cup the important numbers are team strike rates, win-loss percentage, total caps and average caps per player (70-80). The quarter and semi-finalists of all World Cups came in the top two or three in those categories. When they didn’t come in the top two or three, they would be the host nation.”
A change in playing regulations after the last World Cup also meant a different approach was required. At the 2015 tournament only four fielders were allowed outside the inner ring in the final 10 overs. A second batting powerplay was available, and was normally taken between the 35-40th overs.
Leamon uses a cycling analogy. He compares 50-over batting under the new regulations to a time trial. Riders gradually increase effort over the whole course, rather than canter for three-fifths and then thrash it at the end.
It leaves the power hitters to attack at the end with England having a higher boundary percentage (15.23) in the final 10 overs than any other side over the past two years.
The players have footage they can view on their iPads, clipped together to show an opponent’s weaknesses against certain deliveries, or where he likes to score.
Morgan is instinctive as a captain and Bayliss is not a numbers man. Morgan goes off script, but has become more interested by data analysis over the past year.
The attack, though, is not built around pace or seam, surely a first for an English team. It is Rashid who holds the key and was one of the first players Bayliss and Morgan identified when they ripped up the team. He has taken 129 wickets at 29.68 since the last World Cup, more than any other bowler in the world. When he plays Test cricket, Rashid looks timid and lacking in self-belief. But put him in the blue of England’s one-day team and he is transformed. The boundary protection and nature of ODI cricket suits him of course, but the confidence is down to more than that.
“As a spinner you need backing and the biggest thing is if you do get hit for a couple of fours, the captain does not take his cap off, throw it down on the floor and kick it,” says his great friend Moeen. “You need the captain to say ‘come back the next over’ and Morgy does that. There are also times when you are bowling well, getting hit and it feels like the batter is lining you up and he takes you off. You never question that. I have had times when I’ve been bowling well and Morgy has come up to me and said you are not playing this game because we want one spinner and we are picking Rash. It has been the other way round too, and I have played ahead of Rash but you know what Morgs is doing is for the best of the team. You, as a player, accept that.”
“In the old days, even when we had a bowler as good as Graeme Swann bowling in the middle overs, we found it very hard to apply pressure, especially when there were two set batsmen. We were not asking them searching questions. Adil asks a lot of questions and has grown massively in terms of stature and confidence. He has real clarity about the role he is playing in the team.”
While Rashid has the googly, Moeen, as an off-spinner, relies on changes of pace and flight. “In one-day cricket your stock ball at pace is your main thing as a finger spinner because you don’t have the googly or doosra. With my bowling it is more about trying to think what the batter is going to do next and trying to second guess him. I just try to bowl a good over so the guys like Plunkett can really attack and use their skills. I try to control the game in that middle bit, controlling the run rate.”
Inevitably there have been clashes with management and players. Bayliss challenges them when they are bowled out in under 50 overs. He asks were they committed to playing aggressive cricket, were you trying to sit in and defend or did you just execute shots poorly? The players have pushed back at management too.
That was shattered in Bangladesh when he was quick to stand up to provocative sledging in Dhaka and, more importantly, at home during a series against Pakistan when he decided England’s fielding had to improve.
The coaches were hitting balls along the ground to the boundary fielders, telling them to take a moment to steady their body and be balanced before throwing the ball back to the middle.
Buttler told the coaches they had to match the intent with the bat and ball in the field too. Instead of taking that extra moment to be balanced, players should learn to pick up one handed and throw in as quickly as possible to the keeper.
“Jos’s attitude was don’t be safe throwing the ball. The batters take risks, the bowlers look for wickets, so match that same intent with fielding,” says an England source.
Since then England’s ground fielding has improved markedly, only New Zealand and Australia are as good or better. It is all about intent with Morgan and Buttler. No let up.
The pressure does mean players let go and Morgan knows the culture of the team started to drift after the Champions Trophy. Bristol, September 2017, was when it all went too far. The events that night have been well documented, but the long-term impact was to cast Hales out from the rest of his team. There was sympathy for Stokes, surprisingly, given his actions, but less so for Hales. The management were incensed that the morning after Stokes’s arrest, he did not tell the coach or captain what had happened.
The relationship between Hales and Stokes remained cordial, but grew distant as the case wore on and particularly after the trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Hales was seen by his team-mates as someone who had failed to learn from what happened, as proved by his subsequent drug ban and dropping from the England side. None stood up for him when consulted about whether he should be dropped.
Morgan was unequivocal. Having introduced his team philosophy in the Shangri-La in November, there was no way Hales could stay in the side. He had failed to protect the team and uphold the values of courage, unity and respect.
Stokes has changed. He trains harder than ever before, too hard in some cases, and feels he has to be the perfect role model all the time. During the tour to Sri Lanka last year, some of the England players watched a rugby international between New Zealand and England in the Cheers pub, down in the basement of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo. It was a rowdy night, but Stokes went home halfway through the game, feeling uncomfortable.
He is more aware of his surroundings and takes himself out of potentially dodgy situations.
He has thrown himself into fitness work. When he suffered cramp during a hammering in the fifth ODI in Colombo last year having trained for three hours the night before, Morgan told the team after the match they had nothing to prove. “He told the lads, ‘let’s be smart, we are working our arses off. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. We trust each other’,” says a source. The message was aimed at Stokes.
England spent 41 days in the Shangri-La hotel on that tour, the players loved the Table One restaurant so much they even squeezed in an extra night there breaking up the journey between Galle and Kandy after the first Test.
“It has established a lot of leaders within the group and it makes this summer more exciting. One of our goals in order to be competing in the 2019 World Cup was to be ranked in the top three in the world. We have been No1 since last year. There has been no drop off. When we became No1, which was not a particular goal, we spoke about how we should not train like the best side in the world, we should train like the second or third best side in the world looking to continually get better, train better and continually trying to add value to the side. That is a really healthy place to be.”
Can they do it? “Teams that win World Cups in any sport deep down believe they can win it,” says Strauss. “Very occasionally you get a team that has a great run and shocks everyone including themselves, but by and large it is the big teams who know they can win it, who think they are the best, who come through. These guys know they can win the World Cup. I don’t think any England team has known that before. Yes, they have hoped, but they have not known it like this team.”
Read more: The Telegraph
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Graeme Swann and Nick Bright are in celebratory mood as they reflect on England's remarkable World Cup win in the company of Sir Curtly Ambrose, Monty Panesar and the Barmy Army.
Listen to Jimmy Anderson on the Tailenders podcast. That is absolute class . Also tuffers & Vaughan show
Alex Hales must be feeling like an idiot.. regret of a lifetime
Thanks and will do!
Indian team management should be accountable for below failures -
1. They could not find a settled XI to play world cup. They kept on trying so many combinations/players in middle order but could not find the best XI till the end.
2. They could not settle on a batting order for tough(seaming) conditions. Sending Dhoni at 7 in the semi, is the most baffling decision, I have seen in recent times.
3. India have not won anything major in last 4 years despite having a good pool of players to choose from.
1. They could not find a settled XI to play world cup. They kept on trying so many combinations/players in middle order but could not find the best XI till the end.
2. They could not settle on a batting order for tough(seaming) conditions. Sending Dhoni at 7 in the semi, is the most baffling decision, I have seen in recent times.
3. India have not won anything major in last 4 years despite having a good pool of players to choose from.
5. Hiring an incompetent coach for the sake of a overpowered captain
The Making of Morgan: Englands Irishman
Ireland being a foreign country aside, his story is as amazing as Dhoni from Ranchi. Very motivating and inspiring.
Ireland being a foreign country aside, his story is as amazing as Dhoni from Ranchi. Very motivating and inspiring.
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He is saying what many fans have been saying for some time. The plan was hope Top 3 fire with the Bat and Bumrah with the Ball. It almost worked but it was always going to fail. Like he says one can never win the WC if you do not have a stable middle order. Truth to be told even had we won the WC, I would have still called out the selectors and team management. And strangely Shastri always knew a top order failure could always happen and that is why he even at the start of the year gave a stupid interview that he might push Kohli down to number 4 if they lose a quick wicket but strangely he did not in the Semis. Last 2 years has been one gigantic waste of time for Indian ODI cricket. I am glad BCCI are looking for a new coahc and I hope they do not make an emotional decision but give the job to a person who actually has some experience of coaching and not just a glorified cheerleader for Kohli.
Seems pretty solid to me.
Shastri had never coached before had he? Remember him as a commentator (he came across as pretty arrogant tbh) but can't remember him coaching anywhere.
It would be like the England football team giving the job to Gary Lineker ffs.
great read
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49045292
Mark Wood column: 'I drove home wearing my World Cup medal'
Four years came down to one ball in a super over. I'll never forget it as long as I live. Winning the Ashes was amazing, but nothing will ever top that last ball at Lord's on Sunday. Nothing.
I can't count the number of times I've watched it back. The International Cricket Council released a video on Twitter that had me in tears. Someone else put it to the song from Titanic, and that did the same.
It is surreal to say that we are the champions of the world, but it is the best possible feeling.
That is a big contrast to how I felt for the majority of the second innings of the final, which was absolutely awful.
If you've read before, you'll know I am a terrible watcher, and I hated the 50 overs when we were batting.
When we'd finished bowling, coaches Trevor Bayliss and Chris Silverwood said we'd done well to restrict New Zealand to 241 and that we would knock them off if we batted well. Having bowled on that pitch and seen the ball nip around, I wasn't so sure.
How England won an incredible Cricket World Cup final
I was right. The chase was a grind.
I hate rushing, so, even though I was batting number 11, I was fully padded up when number eight Liam Plunkett went in.
At that point, with the run-rate rising, there were people hiding behind chairs in the dressing room, unable to watch. Jos Buttler was punching the physio's bench because he was so disappointed that he had got out.
When I started to realise that I might be needed, either to hit runs or, as it turned out, merely run, I felt sick.
Eoin Morgan came over to me and asked if I was clear with what I had to do. I said I was, but the tension must have clouded my judgement. My job was simply to go out there and run, but I was still fully padded up with a chest-guard, thigh-pad and arm-guard. On reflection, it would have been better to go out there with less kit.
I ran down the pavilion steps, trying to get myself ready to sprint. When I got to the middle, I could tell by the look in Ben Stokes' eyes that he was totally in the zone.
I didn't want to say too much to him, so just said I was running whatever happened. He only nodded, so I thought 'he's got this'.
Plenty have asked me why he didn't try to hit the last ball, a full toss, for four or six. I think he was just trying to find a gap, rather than risking getting out and us losing by one run.
England get freak six runs after incredible Stokes deflection
He hit it too well, though, straight to a fielder. I knew I was going to be miles out and I've had plenty of people tell me that the Titanic turns quicker than I do. Maybe I need to work on my running.
Stokesy booted his bat about 20 yards in frustration. I went up to him and said 'you've been absolutely fantastic. You've given us a chance of winning'. I doubt he paid any attention.
When we got back to the dressing room, it was chaos. Morgs, Jos and Trevor were planning what to do. Stokesy went into the showers to compose himself, then was asked if he wanted to bat again.
He said he did, but suggested that Jos and Jason Roy should go first. It was Eoin who said it should be Stokes and Buttler, because he wanted a right-handed and left-handed batsman. It was the right call.
Still, Jason was scrambling because he couldn't find his box. I had to lend him mine.
I thought 15 was a good score, but I was powerless to help in the New Zealand innings because I'd injured my side when we were bowling and poor James Vince had to field for me.
Jofra Archer was asked if he wanted to bowl our over and, as a young lad without much international experience, showed balls of steel.
On the last ball, when the throw was coming in, I was up from where I was sitting and leaping over the fence. When Jos demolished the stumps, I sprinted towards him as fast as I could.
He threw off his gloves and high-fived me as a he ran past. Jofra was on the ground, Plunkett had Morgs in the air. Stokesy was in tears. You couldn't hear a thing because of the noise.
What I do know is that I had leant Stokesy my sunglasses and, in celebrating, he threw them somewhere on the Lord's outfield and they have not been seen since. He owes me a pair of shades.
It was, though, pure ecstasy.
Watch the moment England won the World Cup
We were on the field for a long time afterwards - collecting the trophy, a lap of honour, then the families of both our team and New Zealand came out. We all mingled together and for there to be no hard feelings shows was a great bunch of lads the Black Caps are.
When we got back to the dressing rooms, we sang so many songs that I lost my voice. Me and Jos came up with a version of 'Allez, Allez, Allez' that we wrote on one of his bats.
There were family and friends in there, so much pride and love in the room. At one point, Morgs took the team into a quiet corner and spoke briefly about how we should make sure we enjoyed the moment.
We actually had to leave Lord's because there was a midnight curfew, so we went back to the team hotel - all still in our pale blue playing kit.
I left the bar at about 2am, but some of the lads carried on into the small hours. One of the advantages of being teetotal is that I can remember everything that happened and didn't feel too shabby the following morning, when I woke up still wearing my medal.
When we went to The Oval, it was lovely to see the children that we hope to have inspired, even if a few of the lads were a bit worse for wear.
Later that day, at Downing Street, Plunkett and Roy tried to sneak into the cabinet room, which I'm not sure was allowed.
Prime Minister Theresa May, a keen cricket fans, greets members of England's triumphant World Cup squad
It was great to chat to the Prime Minister. She spoke nicely on how proud the nation was of us and how we had joined 1966 and 2003 as the great sporting moments in the country's history.
On Tuesday morning, we all went back to Lord's to collect our kit from the dressing room. We signed each other's playing shirts - Stokesy's stank of dirt and champagne, but he still said he wouldn't wash it - then we said our goodbyes.
Driving away, I wore my medal, but felt flat that it was all over. I wanted to stay and celebrate with the team for longer. The Test lads meet up this weekend, but I'm not sure when the 15 World Cup winners will all be together again.
We do, however, still have our WhatsApp group, where each day we greet each other with 'morning, champions'.
It's funny how quickly you settle back into normality. On Sunday, I was part of the team that won the World Cup. Now, I'm back at home.
I've slept a lot - you don't realise how much these things take out of you - and a few people who live nearby have spoken to me about it but, apart from that, life has been normal.
The side injury will keep me out for between four and six weeks. I'll rest up and hopefully play some part in the Ashes.
For now, though, I'll reflect on what we have achieved.
From a personal point of view, there have been times when I have been injured or doubted myself and there have been people who have convinced me to keep trucking on.
Without family, friends and fans, I'm not sure it would have been possible for me to do this, but the tough times make it all the sweeter to be a World Cup winner.
I'll forever be grateful.
Mark Wood was speaking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt.
Four years came down to one ball in a super over. I'll never forget it as long as I live. Winning the Ashes was amazing, but nothing will ever top that last ball at Lord's on Sunday. Nothing.
I can't count the number of times I've watched it back. The International Cricket Council released a video on Twitter that had me in tears. Someone else put it to the song from Titanic, and that did the same.
It is surreal to say that we are the champions of the world, but it is the best possible feeling.
That is a big contrast to how I felt for the majority of the second innings of the final, which was absolutely awful.
If you've read before, you'll know I am a terrible watcher, and I hated the 50 overs when we were batting.
When we'd finished bowling, coaches Trevor Bayliss and Chris Silverwood said we'd done well to restrict New Zealand to 241 and that we would knock them off if we batted well. Having bowled on that pitch and seen the ball nip around, I wasn't so sure.
How England won an incredible Cricket World Cup final
I was right. The chase was a grind.
I hate rushing, so, even though I was batting number 11, I was fully padded up when number eight Liam Plunkett went in.
At that point, with the run-rate rising, there were people hiding behind chairs in the dressing room, unable to watch. Jos Buttler was punching the physio's bench because he was so disappointed that he had got out.
When I started to realise that I might be needed, either to hit runs or, as it turned out, merely run, I felt sick.
Eoin Morgan came over to me and asked if I was clear with what I had to do. I said I was, but the tension must have clouded my judgement. My job was simply to go out there and run, but I was still fully padded up with a chest-guard, thigh-pad and arm-guard. On reflection, it would have been better to go out there with less kit.
I ran down the pavilion steps, trying to get myself ready to sprint. When I got to the middle, I could tell by the look in Ben Stokes' eyes that he was totally in the zone.
I didn't want to say too much to him, so just said I was running whatever happened. He only nodded, so I thought 'he's got this'.
Plenty have asked me why he didn't try to hit the last ball, a full toss, for four or six. I think he was just trying to find a gap, rather than risking getting out and us losing by one run.
England get freak six runs after incredible Stokes deflection
He hit it too well, though, straight to a fielder. I knew I was going to be miles out and I've had plenty of people tell me that the Titanic turns quicker than I do. Maybe I need to work on my running.
Stokesy booted his bat about 20 yards in frustration. I went up to him and said 'you've been absolutely fantastic. You've given us a chance of winning'. I doubt he paid any attention.
When we got back to the dressing room, it was chaos. Morgs, Jos and Trevor were planning what to do. Stokesy went into the showers to compose himself, then was asked if he wanted to bat again.
He said he did, but suggested that Jos and Jason Roy should go first. It was Eoin who said it should be Stokes and Buttler, because he wanted a right-handed and left-handed batsman. It was the right call.
Still, Jason was scrambling because he couldn't find his box. I had to lend him mine.
I thought 15 was a good score, but I was powerless to help in the New Zealand innings because I'd injured my side when we were bowling and poor James Vince had to field for me.
Jofra Archer was asked if he wanted to bowl our over and, as a young lad without much international experience, showed balls of steel.
On the last ball, when the throw was coming in, I was up from where I was sitting and leaping over the fence. When Jos demolished the stumps, I sprinted towards him as fast as I could.
He threw off his gloves and high-fived me as a he ran past. Jofra was on the ground, Plunkett had Morgs in the air. Stokesy was in tears. You couldn't hear a thing because of the noise.
What I do know is that I had leant Stokesy my sunglasses and, in celebrating, he threw them somewhere on the Lord's outfield and they have not been seen since. He owes me a pair of shades.
It was, though, pure ecstasy.
Watch the moment England won the World Cup
We were on the field for a long time afterwards - collecting the trophy, a lap of honour, then the families of both our team and New Zealand came out. We all mingled together and for there to be no hard feelings shows was a great bunch of lads the Black Caps are.
When we got back to the dressing rooms, we sang so many songs that I lost my voice. Me and Jos came up with a version of 'Allez, Allez, Allez' that we wrote on one of his bats.
There were family and friends in there, so much pride and love in the room. At one point, Morgs took the team into a quiet corner and spoke briefly about how we should make sure we enjoyed the moment.
We actually had to leave Lord's because there was a midnight curfew, so we went back to the team hotel - all still in our pale blue playing kit.
I left the bar at about 2am, but some of the lads carried on into the small hours. One of the advantages of being teetotal is that I can remember everything that happened and didn't feel too shabby the following morning, when I woke up still wearing my medal.
When we went to The Oval, it was lovely to see the children that we hope to have inspired, even if a few of the lads were a bit worse for wear.
Later that day, at Downing Street, Plunkett and Roy tried to sneak into the cabinet room, which I'm not sure was allowed.
Prime Minister Theresa May, a keen cricket fans, greets members of England's triumphant World Cup squad
It was great to chat to the Prime Minister. She spoke nicely on how proud the nation was of us and how we had joined 1966 and 2003 as the great sporting moments in the country's history.
On Tuesday morning, we all went back to Lord's to collect our kit from the dressing room. We signed each other's playing shirts - Stokesy's stank of dirt and champagne, but he still said he wouldn't wash it - then we said our goodbyes.
Driving away, I wore my medal, but felt flat that it was all over. I wanted to stay and celebrate with the team for longer. The Test lads meet up this weekend, but I'm not sure when the 15 World Cup winners will all be together again.
We do, however, still have our WhatsApp group, where each day we greet each other with 'morning, champions'.
It's funny how quickly you settle back into normality. On Sunday, I was part of the team that won the World Cup. Now, I'm back at home.
I've slept a lot - you don't realise how much these things take out of you - and a few people who live nearby have spoken to me about it but, apart from that, life has been normal.
The side injury will keep me out for between four and six weeks. I'll rest up and hopefully play some part in the Ashes.
For now, though, I'll reflect on what we have achieved.
From a personal point of view, there have been times when I have been injured or doubted myself and there have been people who have convinced me to keep trucking on.
Without family, friends and fans, I'm not sure it would have been possible for me to do this, but the tough times make it all the sweeter to be a World Cup winner.
I'll forever be grateful.
Mark Wood was speaking to BBC Sport's Stephan Shemilt.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49045292
Yeah brilliant read. Thanks for sharing.
India's problem is they're stacked in most positions but massively light on middle order batsmen. Always felt like the team had a massive hole in the middle and in the end the gap was exposed.