Chance for England to break staid mould

 DAVID HO

Kevin Pietersen will have been absent from England's side for more than a year by the time they begin their World Cup challenge but the after-effects of his departure have been evident in the build-up to the tournament. For almost a year, England professed loyalty to Alastair Cook as they sought stability - and what they saw as decency and integrity - after the excesses and the tensions of the Pietersen era. While they extolled Cook's upstanding character, he could barely buy a run. Finally, with Christmas approaching, they saw through their moral fog and sacked him. His replacement, Eoin Morgan, offered a chance to play a more adventurous brand of cricket that would at least shake many England supporters out of their disillusionment.

As long as England swore allegiance to Cook, and the conservative, methodical approach that went with it, their ODI side performed below its potential. Tactically, England have been wedded to protecting wickets and accelerating later in the innings. Although this will often possess some logic in Australia and New Zealand, especially with two new balls available, the strokemakers have persistently had too much ground to make up. Alex Hales' presence at the top of the order can help to address that - although he might be more at home with the lower bounce of New Zealand's pitches.

If the sense is that England's batting has been performing below capacity, especially as a preponderance of allrounders allows them to bat deeper than many, there are more doubts about their bowling. Regardless of James Anderson's wonderful career, a World Cup on Australian pitches is not his forte. There is no spinner of repute (for all of Moeen Ali's wonderful introduction to international cricket) nor a proven death bowler. Even if the batting catches fire, those weaknesses will linger.

Like the England football team, as they headed to Brazil, England's cricketers will find few proclaiming that they have a chance of success. They should resist the comparison - they have a much better chance than the footballers, but it would still be quite a turn-up if they won their first World Cup. At least now, with Morgan at the helm, they have a puncher's chance.