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[Saba Sports News] Former England captain Eoin Morgan opined that if England are able to defend the ODI World Cup title in India, it will be a bigger achievement than their 2019 triumph.
Under the stewardship of Morgan, England won their maiden ODI World Cup trophy in 2019. He passed on the captaincy baton to Jos Buttler, who will lead the team in their title defense in 2023.
Stating that Buttler has more challenges to overcome, Morgan asserted that winning the World Cup in India would be a greater accomplishment that the 2019 one.
“The challenges for me going into 2019 were completely different to what
Jos has gone through coming into this tournament. Between 2015 and 2019,
our sole focus was trying to win the ODI World Cup at home. There was a
clear emphasis on having your best players available in the year
leading up and trying to get absolute role clarity in every position
possible. Jos has not had that,” Morgan wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
Emphasising that England’s focus was more on Test cricket this year, Morgan drew attention to the fact that Buttler had to play without the first-choice players for the better part of the season.
“There has been a complete change in mindset in English cricket where
Test cricket is now the out-and-out priority. Only on very few occasions
in T20s and ODIs has Jos had his best side available. This has been an
Ashes year, a huge year for Ben Stokes and his red-ball team. Quietly
behind the scenes Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott have been planning
for this World Cup but, if you asked them, they would probably say it
has been unbelievably challenging.
“All things considered, it would without a doubt be a bigger achievement
for England to win this World Cup than when we won in 2019. The nature
of the schedule has not allowed them to have the type of preparation
they would like and being away from home, especially in India where
India are so strong, is tough. Winning here would carry a lot more
weight than winning at home. I am still extremely hopeful that England
can defend the title, though,” he mentioned.
England will start their World Cup 2023 campaign in a fixture against New Zealand on October 5 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.