England are in a mess... so let's just give it a bash at the World Cup

• England are in disarray and need to take a positive approach at World Cup
• New captain Eoin Morgan's form will be crucial to England'shopes
• England need to keep faith in young players like Alex Hales
• Stuart Broad and James Anderson may not answer England's bowling
• Tri-series against India and Australia will gauge England's chances 

By Nasser Hussain for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:56 EST, 7 January 2015 | Updated: 18:56 EST, 7 January 2015

If England are to have any chance in this World Cup they must play without fear or inhibitions. Their mindset will be crucial in reaching the scores of 300 that will be paramount against the best sides. A score of 250 simply will not be enough in this tournament.

In Test cricket we now give players proper chances and back them, but we just don’t do that in the one-day game.

That means chopping and changing, which can lead to an uncertainty that reminds me of when I first became England captain. Players think they might be out after one or two bad games and that can affect their performances.

Eoin Morgan will captain England at the ICC World Cup to be jointly hosted in Australia and New Zealand

Alastair Cook lost his one-day captaincy for England on the eve of the Cricket World Cup

For instance, if England had changed their captain and gone with a virtually new top four just a month before the Ashes they would have been castigated. So why is it allowed to happen a month before the World Cup?

They have just about got the right squad now but it should have been in place a year ago.

MORGAN IS KEY 

The impetus for that right mindset must start at the top. Eoin Morgan has to have a good World Cup if England are to cause an upset.

He is their gun player. We know captaincy has lifted his game but that can only last so long and could change if things start going pear-shaped for the team and the captain’s mind becomes cluttered.

Eoin Morgan has been lifted by the captaincy and his form will be key to England's chances at the World Cup

Morgan of the Thunder bats during the Big Bash League match in Sydney ahead of the tournament

If Morgan can stay uncluttered and start scoring expansive runs again it could have an enormous impact on the team.

I like his captaincy style. He can think outside the box, won’t be afraid of doing his own thing and reminds me a little of Brendon McCullum in his leadership. Morgan must get the full support of the coaching staff in setting a positive example and getting the game plan clear in everyone’s minds.

KEEPING THE FAITH 

You get massive ups and downs with young players and England have shown a reluctance to back them and give them a proper chance to sink or swim.

We all know that Alex Hales showed a few limitations last summer. Duncan Fletcher told me that India soon worked out how to bowl to him because he stayed legside of the ball and tried to play through the off.

But Hales hasn’t had a long enough opportunity to work his way through that, so we are going to the World Cup with question marks against him and seemingly extra batsmen picked to cover for him in Ian Bell and Gary Ballance.

That makes for a squad with one batsman too many and one all-rounder short, in my opinion.

Question marks over Alex Hales' batting has led to the selection of an unbalanced squad

Hales loses his wicket while playing for the Hurricanes in Australia's Big Bash League

England should have concentrated on what Hales can do rather than what he can’t, given him a run and seen if he can replicate his Twenty20 form over 50 overs. As it is, we are still not sure going into the premier one-day tournament.

Then we have Ben Stokes, who smashed 77 off 37 balls for Melbourne Renegades against Hobart in the Big Bash on Wednesday. It makes me laugh to hear everybody immediately screaming that he should be in the World Cup squad.

Just look at his scores and bowling figures over the past year for England and you can see why the selectors left him out. But why has his form been so bad? And has it got anything to do with how he has been handled by England? What has happened to him when he has pulled on the England shirt?

When he made that fantastic Test century in Perth he had nothing to lose and was playing with no fear. That’s the mindset England have to restore in Stokes and instil in the players who are going to Australia.

Omitted Ben Stokes hit 77 off 37 balls for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League on Wednesday

Calls for Stokes to be in England squad are unwarranted given his dismal record for his country

For instance, we all know what’s going to happen when Mitchell Johnson comes running in at Moeen Ali in Melbourne on February 14. He will have seen the footage of how Moeen plays the short ball and his big back-lift. There will be bouncers followed by yorkers and Moeen has to deal with that. But he has to be given licence to go for it and full support for the rest of the tournament if it doesn’t come off in that first match.

England should sit the young players down, tell them they believe in them and, crucially, consistently play them in their best positions.

Paul Collingwood made a valid point on Twitter when he said that if you play Stokes at eight he will bat like a No 8. If he was the right choice at three he should have stayed there long enough to prove it.

James Taylor showed he can score runs at three in Sri Lanka but then was immediately pushed down the order. It doesn’t lead to any sort of continuity or security in the side.

Moeen Ali can expect to face bouncers and yorkers when he comes up against Australia's Mitchell Johnson

BOWLING'S A WORRY 

So there are concerns about the batting but it could be a case of better late than never with what is shaping up to be a decent line-up.

I have more worries about the bowling. To have any chance of winning this World Cup, England must take wickets in the middle overs and we didn’t see much evidence of them being able to do that in Sri Lanka. Yes, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson are back, but they are not necessarily the answer to all England’s problems. Broad can take time to get back up to full speed after injury, while Anderson will need the white ball to swing if he is going to be a big force in this tournament.

James Tredwell has done well for England, better than people often give him credit for, but Australia and others will get after him as the Aussies did in the one-day series last year.

England will need as many bowling options as possible and the fact that they only have right-arm seam bowlers and off-spinners will limit Morgan’s decision-making in the middle.

Stuart Broad (right) and James Andrew (left) return but are not necessarily the answer to England's bowling

Death bowling will be a concern at the World Cup and Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga is the world's best

Death bowling is the other big concern with the recent change in fielding restrictions. England simply have to get it right and they may be looking at Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan to do that.

We hear old bowlers saying all the time that modern players don’t bowl enough yorkers but that is only part of the issue. There is less margin for error these days as batsmen stay back in their crease and have the ability to clear the ropes with their big bats and innovative techniques if bowlers get it fractionally wrong.

So yes, the yorker plays a part but it is about variety. Lasith Malinga, perhaps the best death bowler in the world today, bowls all sorts of deliveries at the end of an innings. Crucially, it is about executing all of them perfectly.

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

The tri-series against Australia and India will go a long way towards deciding how far England can go in the World Cup. They will be playing the two favourites for the tournament and my hope is that England decide on their best line-up at the start and stick with it, as they do not have many chances now for the players to get used to their specific roles.

Steve Smith presents his pink cap to Glenn McGrath during the Fourth Test against India - England's performances against these two nations in the tri-series will gauge their chances

Cricket legend Shane Warne wears a pink outfit for Jane McGrath Day in Sydney

A flag is unveiled at the Sydney Ground to commemorate the death of Jane Magrath from cancer

England really should reach the World Cup quarter-finals and, from there, there is enough talent for them to get on a roll and win three matches in a row. But they haven’t won three games in a row against top opposition for a long time.

Will England win the World Cup? Probably not. Can they win the World Cup? Of course, but they will need a serious change in mindset.

I think the public will accept a gallant failure just as long as it is not stodgy old England. If they look to be dynamic, look to give it a real go, then we can’t have any complaints. It is just that it could have been so different with proper, clear thinking and planning. And with one-day cricket being treated the same as the Test game.

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