England coach Peter Moores admitted yesterday his side faced a race against time if they were to be serious contenders to win next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
No England side have ever lifted the World Cup, with the last of their three losing appearances in the final back in 1992 – when the tournament was last staged ‘Down Under’.
England are on the cusp of a fifth successive one-day international series loss under captain Alastair Cook, given they are 2-0 down with two to play ahead of today’s fourth ODI against world champions India at Edgbaston.
They have a maximum of 14 ODIs in just over five months between now and the start of the World Cup on February 14, culminating in tri-series in Australia also featuring India. “We’ve got to work fast,” Moores told reporters at Edgbaston yesterday.
“We’ve got to accelerate the development of the team quicker than might be normal to get ourselves really competitive by the World Cup.
“We’ll be unfancied, we’ve got work to do,” admitted Moores, now in his second spell as England coach.
But he insisted England were not suffering ‘paralysis by analysis’, and that opening batsman Cook, who has gone 37 ODI innings without a hundred, was the right man to lead the one-day side.
Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann said last week the team do not have a “cat in hell’s chance” of winning the World Cup and urged Cook to quit white-ball cricket.
Meanwhile England great Geoffrey Boycott said yesterday the team’s one-day approach had not altered since he last played international cricket in 1982.
