Strauss said England were not tired despite playing for over three months at a stretch and his boys were now “motivated and excited” to play cricket’s showpiece event starting on Saturday.
“We have had a lot of very good ODI cricket for the last 18 months or so. We did not play so well in Australia, which is disappointing to us. But we’ve got a solid squad, a settled side,” said Strauss.
“We really feel we can do very well in the tournament. We are excited about it,” said the captain, adding, “We here to win it, obviously – no doubt about that. I think we feel like we have got excellent chance.”
Strauss added the triumph in last year’s World Twenty20 has boosted the team’s confidence even though the side has not won a World Cup despite appearing in three finals since the event begun in 1975.
“I think that the guys took a lot of confidence from the fact that we won the World Twenty20. And so the guys know that they can do it on the big stage under pressure, which is an important hurdle to overcome as a side.”
He said Eoin Morgan, ruled out with a broken finger would be missed as he was a “standout performer” for the side in recent series but his replacement Ravi Bopara can fill up the gap as he played in the Indian Premier League and knows the conditions in Sri Lanka.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2011.
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