Eoin Morgan will not tempt fate by imagining what it might be like to become the first England captain to lift the World Cup.
‘No, I don’t allow myself to think about it at all,’ insisted Morgan as he pondered this summer’s showcase 50-over tournament. ‘The game can be cruel and if we need an example of that we need only look back to the World Twenty20 final in 2016.
‘The final over that Ben Stokes bowled (when West Indies needed 19 to win and Carlos Brathwaite promptly hit four consecutive sixes) emphasised how unpredictable sport is and that’s why we love it. Every time you think you’re good you’re not.
Eoin Morgan says England will approach the World Cup like they are then underdogs
‘Just because we’ve become No 1 in the world we haven’t changed anything. We play like we’re No 2 and we’re chasing somebody. We’re always trying to chase and better ourselves.’
It is an approach that is designed to stop expectations rising as England approach a home World Cup as favourites. They will open the tournament, 100 days from Tuesday, against South Africa at the Oval knowing they can make English cricket history in the final at Lord’s on July 14.
‘We’ve put a lot of work into where we’re at and we’ve come a long way,’ said Morgan, who leads England into the one-day series against West Indies on Wednesday.
‘We’ve got 11 matches between now and that first World Cup game and they are very important, particularly against West Indies because conditions will change quite drastically here and will get us out of our comfort zone.
‘We need to learn as much as we can from this series so by the seventh or eighth game of the tournament when we play in different conditions we are able to adapt.’
Morgan will not tempt fate by imagining becoming the first England captain to lift the trophy
The Irishman, who told his family he wanted to play for England when he was just 13, knows just how big a chance cricket has to cement itself at a challenging time for the sport in the public consciousness.
‘The anticipation is definitely building,’ said Morgan. ‘I went to a local school in Holloway and the young kids were getting excited about a world event coming to England.
‘Some of them didn’t know much about cricket but they were learning about the cultures of the different nations who are playing and it was a way of them saying, “This is what we have to offer in London”. That’s part and parcel of growing the sport.
‘It’s a massive chance of getting cricket to a wider audience. I remember the 1999 World Cup and going to one of the games in Dublin.
‘The city wasn’t that hyper about cricket but everybody knew what was going on because it was such a big event. I must have been 11 or 12 but I can
