England’s one-day team has enjoyed a dramatic transformation since their embarrassing exit from the 2015 World Cup in Australia.
From no-hopers to world beaters, they go into this summer’s World Cup, which starts on Thursday, as hosts and favourites.
Captain Eoin Morgan is credited as being one of the key men behind the reversal in fortunes. Here, he describes England’s four-year journey to former England skipper Michael Vaughan.
Listen to the full interview on Test Match Special’s World Cup daily podcast.
In 2015, in a tournament all-but designed to ensure progression for all of the world’s leading nations to the last eight, England failed to make it past the group stage – only managing to beat Scotland and Afghanistan. Their fate was sealed by a defeat by Bangladesh, after particularly
heavy losses to New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka.
Morgan: “We were humiliated. There are two games which stand out for me in that World Cup which confirmed we were underprepared and so far off the mark – the first one being against New Zealand. We were bowled out for 123 and New Zealand knocked them off in 12.2 overs.
“The second moment was that game against Bangladesh. We were chasing 275, and we were more than capable of chasing it down – it was on a good wicket and against Bangladesh, who we had beaten previously in one-day series.
“When it came to every crunch moment in the chase, however, we fell short. We crumbled.”
