England will be out to make amends for the heartbreaking loss they suffered at the hands of West Indies in the 2016 final when Carlos Brathwaite stunned them with four sixes off the last over to snatch victory.
England are the world champions in ODI cricket and have changed their style since the early exit in 2015 World Cup. They have transformed totally and have been playing fearless cricket under Eoin Morgan. Since the T20 World Cup final loss, they have won 30 games out of 50 — a win percentage of 60 per cent. The only team they have lost a bilateral series in T20 to in the past two years is India. They have managed to defeat all other teams, be it at home or away, with their fearless brand of cricket.
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England last won the T20 World Cup in 2010 in the third edition in West Indies under Paul Collingwood’s captaincy when they beat arch-rivals Australia. They have the right men to repeat that success with attacking players such as Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Morgan. Their pace attack is equally experienced with Chris Woakes, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, Tynal Mills backed by leg spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen.
The only concern for them might be the form of skipper Morgan who looked off-colour with the bat in the recent Indian Premier League scoring 133 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 95. Generally, the captain is a good as his team but Morgan has proved in the past he is one captain who leads from the front and I am sure this break before their first game on October 23 will do him a world of good as he will be able to go back to the drawing board and rectify his mistakes.
England are one the favourites along with India and West Indies and Morgan’s form will be key to take them one step further than the 2016 World Cup.
