There is something special about the England cricket team off- late that makes them an exciting unit to watch. This is not the England of the old. They have played well in big tournaments too and have silently emerged as contenders for the titles.
They won the 2010 T20 World Cup in West Indies under Paul Collingwood, then lost at home the Champions Trophy 2013 to India, last year it went virtually unnoticed to enter the 2016 T20 World Cup only to lose to West Indies in India. Carlos Brathwaite smashed four sixes of the final over by Ben Stokes to dash their title hopes.
So, what is the reason for this turnaround? Credit for these resurgence goes to three men – Andrew Strauss, former England skipper and Director of cricket, coach Trevor Bayliss (Who coached the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL) and skipper Eoin Morgan.
Reason for England’s resurgence in shorter formats of the game has been due to the attacking intent. They are the only team to score their runs at better than a run a ball in ODI cricket over the past two years and they hold the world record ODI score, 444 for six against Pakistan last summer. Eight of the highest England totals in ODI cricket have come since the last World Cup in Australia 2015.
In skipper Eoin Morgan, England have a very affable and aggressive leader. Morgan’s brand of attacking cricket has been instrumental in England’s turning around the team’s fortunes. Morgan himself is leading by example from the front with the bat.
What is heartening is England has now found some terrific players who are match-winners. All-rounder Ben Stokes, Openers Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Mooen Ali, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Tymal Mill to name a few All of a sudden England have team that has all the bases covered.
The popularity and demand of the English players were seen at the IPL 2017 too. The likes of Ben Stokes ( Rs 14.5 crore) and Tymal Mills ( Rs 12 crore) were paid handsomely by their franchises. Rising PuneSupergiant and the Vijay Mallya owned Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively.
The 2019 World Cup will be played in England and given the kind of cricket Morgan and his men are playing off- late, it would not be wrong by any imagination to say that England will be serious contenders for the title in two years time . After would it not be special feeling to win at home more so when one has now the side to go all the way like never before.
