LONDON, (Reuters) – England will adopt a positive approach and cast off the shackles at the World Cup under new skipper Eoin Morgan, coach Peter Moores said yesterday before the squad flew out to Australia.
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to sack Alastair Cook as one-day captain last month followed a dire 5-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka and Moores believes the change of skipper will help change the mindset.
“We’d got to a position where it felt like it was the right thing to do. It was a braver decision to change it,” Moores told a news conference at Heathrow airport.
“I’m comfortable with that and I think we’ve got the right people on the plane. We moved our game in Sri Lanka. There was a change of mindset and Eoin will continue to drive that.
“He has a good cricket brain and it will be exciting to work with him. He has a strong desire to show how well we can play.”
Middle-order batsman Morgan will lead England in Pool A against Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Scotland when the tournament begins next month.
England, who also lost one-day international series’ to India and Sri Lanka at home last year, warm up for the World Cup by playing in a Tri-Series tournament in Australia this month which also features India.
They will hope Morgan can inject much-needed energy and belief into a side desperately short of confidence.
Bowler Stuart Broad said his week that the uncertainty over Cook’s position had seeped into the team.
“Cook just came under so much pressure. It made him tighten his game and possibly made the team tighten their game too. This is a bit of a fresh slate,” Broad said.
Broad’s belief is echoed by Moores.
“Australia is a great place to play cricket. We are looking forward to getting there and getting stuck in,” he said.
“We will go there and play good, hard cricket. I will tell the players to enjoy representing England and to go for it.
“We have options at the top of the order and I’ll speak to Eoin about that. I feel confident and we go with the ambition of winning the trophy.”
Asked about Cook’s demise as captain, Moores said: “It’s time for us to move on and also for Alastair to refocus.
“He’s got lots of Test match cricket to come up this year — he’s got a huge role to play in that.”