Wednesday 27 August 2014 16:59, UK
Eoin Morgan believes the one-day international series against India and Sri Lanka provide England with the perfect platform to lay the foundations for World Cup success.
The 11th edition of the global showpiece event starts in February with England facing tournament co-hosts Australia in Melbourne before travelling to Wellington to face fellow host nation New Zealand.
After their current one-day international series against India, which saw the first of five matches washed out in Bristol, England will take on Sri Lanka in a seven-match series before an ODI tri-series with Australia and India.
I think it’s a good time to play anybody who has just been thrashed in three Test matches. I’ve been part of series where we’ve lost and then had to go into a one-day series and it has affected the team morale and success in that series.
Morgan believes the sheer volume of one-day cricket scheduled will allow England to forge a winning formula.
“It gives us great focus and direction to our one-day cricket which can sometimes be hampered with Test cricket around, which is very understandable because we prioritise Test cricket,” he told Sky Sports.
“But the fact the build-up leads into a World Cup, I think, will be hugely beneficial. Being a guy who has played in one World Cup before, I am tremendously excited about it.”
England could play another 15 ODIs before the start of the World Cup and Morgan admits there is plenty of work to be done in that time given they lost their most recent one-day series in Australia 4-1.
“It creates a culture of no excuses,” the England batsman claimed. “There is no doubt there is going to be a huge amount of hard work, we’re not exactly the finished article at the moment but we have a lot of talent and a great motivation to work with.
“I think that’s a great recipe, with the preparation we’ll have leading into the World Cup. We have great benefit in the fact that we’ve just played a one-day series down in Australia and we learnt quite a lot against a strong Australian side.”
Despite England boasting just two ODI wins in their last 11 meetings with India, Morgan believes facing the World Champions on the back of a Test series defeat will prove beneficial to their progress.
“I think home advantage has a huge significance to both forms of the side,” he added. “I think the momentum that we have gathered in the last couple of games from the Test match series will have a huge impact on the series coming up.
“I certainly think that if we can get our strengths in and not let them play as they normally do, I think we can cause some problems.
“I think it’s a good time to play anybody who has just been thrashed in three Test matches. I’ve been part of series where we’ve lost and then had to go into a one-day series and it has affected the team morale and success in that series.”
