Stuart Broad believes the appointment of Eoin Morgan as captain can help England discover the freedom to challenge in the World Cup
George Dobell05-Jan-20151:48
We’re underdogs – Broad
Stuart Broad believes the appointment of Eoin Morgan as captain can help England discover the freedom to challenge in the World Cup.Broad, who was captain the last time England won an ODI series in March, admitted England had become “tight” under the leadership of Alastair Cook and welcomed the opportunity to play a more aggressive brand of cricket that he feels can “excite the world”.”Morgs is the right man to be leading us to this World Cup,” Broad said. “He’s an attacking bloke, he’s a positive bloke. He will want guys who could stand up and win him games.”It was pretty clear from the ODIs in Sri Lanka that we do need to free up a little bit and play a bit more attacking cricket. Do not be shy.”Cook just came under so much pressure. It made him tighten his game and possibly made the team tighten their game too. This is a bit of a fresh slate.”I’m very disappointed for Cooky, as a close friend. But his form has been under question for a year or so and it just got to a tipping point. This decision has taken a bit of pressure off the team. You could tell immediately on Twitter – and I think even Morgs found out he was captain from Twitter – that people’s attitudes turned from that negative ‘we’re never going to win the World Cup’ type thing to, ‘we’ve got an exciting team that could do something here’.”We will go to Australia with a batting line up that could excite the world. Guys like Alex Hales, Jos Buttler, Morgs and Moeen Ali can strike the ball beautifully. We just need to get them clicking together. It could be a really exciting time to watch English cricket.”‘Hales could be like Finch, Warner’
Stuart Broad has thrown his support behind Alex Hales as opening batsman in England’s World Cup campaign. Hales, a team-mate of Broad at Nottinghamshire, would appear to be battling for inclusion at the top of the order with Moeen Ali and Ian Bell.
Even though Hales’ ODI record to date is modest, averaging just 18.00 from seven matches, Broad feels his game will be well-suited to Australian conditions and that he can replicate the devastating impact David Warner and Aaron Finch have made as opening batsmen in the same format.
“Hales is the sort of player who would really suit Australian 50-overs games and Aussie wickets,” he said. “I may be biased, but you saw when he scored 141 against Middlesex and was out in the 31st over, he almost won the game there and then.
“I think he is a hugely talented player. People say he has a weakness against spin early doors, but good luck to any spinner bowling with the new ball in Australia. Those knocks in the World T20 in Bangladesh – that century against Sri Lanka – he was hitting good spinners a long, long way.
“You watch the likes of Warner and Finch opening for Australia and it’s a bit of a different ball game. The ODI game has changed so much in the last four years. I would love to see Hales get an opportunity.”
While Broad accepted that Morgan’s own form – he has averaged just 16.35 in 18 ODIs since the start of March – is no better than Cook’s, he felt that the captaincy might provide the catalyst to help him rediscover his touch.”The captaincy will do Morgs good,” Broad said. “He is not a technical player. He almost needs that extra responsibility to take his mindset away from his own game.”The captaincy is quite hectic. You leave your own game to one side and that will help Morgs because he is a free spirit. He has had tough time in past year but I am sure he will just go out and express himself which is the best thing for him. Hopefully he will bring runs for himself because we need Morgs firing if we are to do well in this World Cup.”While Broad, who has fully recovered from the operation he underwent on his right knee in early September, feels England go into the tournament benefiting from their best ever preparation period, he accepts that time is running out. Coming into the event with a grim run of form – they have won only one of their last seven multi-match bilateral ODI series and three of their last 13 completed ODI matches – he conceded that they go into January’s tri-series event with Australia and India desperate for some victories.”We need to start winning some games,” he said. “The confidence and momentum that brings is important. We need guys scoring hundreds and taking four or five wickets. That boosts the whole squad. I don’t expect us to win the World Cup if we don’t go in with some victories in this tri-series.”No team has ever been better prepared for a World Cup so there can be no excuses. In the past, we might have come into a World Cup after a gruelling Ashes series, but this time we have perfect preparation in this tri-series.”We have some great strikers of the ball but we need our belief levels up a bit. We’ve been pretty average all year. It could be very exciting, but it is time for the players to put their hands up and start delivering.”Such is the nature of the World Cup draw that Broad believes England would have to have “an absolute stinker” not to qualify for the quarter-finals. “I hope those words don’t come back to haunt me,” he said, with a smile.”It is not like there is an All Blacks where if you get drawn against them in the quarters you think ‘Oh, God,'” he said. “You should really be making that and then you have three games in a shootout. We need four or five guys to grab the bull by the horns and run with it. If you have a bit of form just keep going and keep positive.”We will have to get up to speed very quickly. But this could be a really exciting time to watch English cricket.”