I should be fit to go for the first game-Eoin Morgan

I should be fit to go for the first game-Eoin Morgan

They haven’t lost a multi-game series for two-and-a-half years, have twice smashed the world record for an innings score and, entering this English summer, their average run-rate since that 2015 tournament was running at 5.97, compared to South Africa's next-best mark of 5.48.

Through it all, there has been a gradual build-up of anticipation: an ICC World Cup on home soil and with it, the opportunity, 44 years after the tournament first launched on these shores, for England to finally win it.

Yet Morgan sees it differently. Winning isn’t everything. “Part of our culture and values is that I like to think sport nowadays isn’t revolved around performance,” he adds. “People can respect, relate to and admire teams and cultures if they do it in the right way. If we go out of this tournament – but for the right reasons, with the players having given everything – people will have a huge amount of respect for that.”

Culture is an operative word for Morgan, one symbolised in his England team by each player’s cap, much like the Baggy Green has so often served as a touchstone for Australia’s Test squad. Their approach has been to take this one step further, crafting an idea that the three lions which adorn those caps each represent one of the three words that speak to the team’s core values: courage, respect and unity.

He explains: “In international cricket, you’re always living out of your suitcase. It’s never the same place and the hotel rooms and cities are different, but the thing that you start your journey with is your own cap.

“It’s with you for as many games as you’re around and it ties everybody together. That is the crown, and those three words are symbolised with the three lions.”

Morgan’s point is that this exceptional group he has built, and the atmosphere nurtured around it, will not be defined by one innings, match or tournament. It’s a wise approach, as evidenced by the bone-crunching reminder of sport’s tenuous nature Morgan endured on the eve of England’s first warm-up game against Australia. During a fielding drill, the skipper incurred a ‘flake fracture’ of his left index finger and spent 20 agonising minutes contemplating his World Cup mortality.

“I’ve had a load of broken fingers,” he reveals. “With a dislocation, when it’s put back in, you know after about 20 minutes. The pain goes away. If the pain doesn’t die down, you know it’s more serious. That was a nervous 20 minutes. If something happens, something happens. You can’t account for it. You train and prepare as hard as you can, but you can’t prepare for an injury.”

It was a quick illustration of the folly of making judgments based on linear goals. Four years of planning and execution can so easily be thrown off kilter by the bounce of a ball, the snap of a finger. Thankfully, Morgan is expected to be fit to lead England into the tournament-proper on Thursday against South Africa at The Oval.

England’s journey to this point, at least in the mind of their leader, isn’t just about the outcome of a solitary World Cup. It goes beyond the kind of singular focus that Morgan so exemplifies when in the heat of battle. “For once in your life,” he concludes. “You’re not being judged purely on getting a hundred or five-for.

“You can tap back into the grassroots. Parents or coaches can say, ‘This is what this team stands for. You should follow them’. You have to understand your place – it’s easy to close yourself off in a bubble, and I think that’s a little naïve. There are two sides to it: winning is one, and the other is growing the game and inspiring a new generation.”

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ICC Trying to Facilitate BCCI-WADA Talks-ICC WC 2019 Latest News

Cricket is keen on truly going global and the fastest way to do that will be to join the Olympic movement as soon as possible. While there might be only 12 Test playing nations currently, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has 104 member nations competing under their wing.

The ICC is now aspiring for cricket’s entry into the 2028 Olympics which will be hosted in Los Angeles. The biggest hurdle in that path is the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) reluctance to becoming WADA-compliant, a process that ICC is trying to facilitate.

“ICC is trying to facilitate a dialogue between WADA and the BCCI. There is a willingness on the part of BCCI to resolve the situation with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). I think that can be resolved quite quickly. BCCI is not reluctant to do dope testing, but they are not ready to send samples to NADA,” ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said after a promotional event in the Capital on Wednesday.

“As far as Olympics are concerned, we have the ambition of getting cricket into Olympics by 2028, but that’s easier said than done. We need to convince the IOC itself to have cricket — 103 out of 104 members are strongly behind the decision. There are some issues between BCCI and IOA and I am confident they can be resolved,” he said about ICC’s Olympic aspirations.

The world body is also hoping for women’s T20 cricket to be included in the 2022 Commonwealth Games which will take place in Birmingham.

“We think cricket and CWG is a good fit. It affords women’s cricket a much bigger market. From CWG point of view, women’s sport is a huge agenda for them and this will give them an opportunity to tap into a big cricketing market. CWG organisers need to go through their decision-making process and we’ll hear about their decision only next year,” the former South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman said.

One of the ICC’s bigger headache in recent times has been the fixing menace especially in Sri Lanka where at least three cricketers were charged in the month of November alone.

“There are some on-going investigations, ACSU (anti-corruption unit) is trying to be much more pro-active to disrupt these criminals who are travelling around the world, trying to corrupt the game. We are getting much better intelligence about who are these people, the education programs we have put in place have worked really well, we have hardened the target at the international level to the extent that these unscrupulous elements are trying to approach players at a much lower level.

“Of course it bothers ICC when names like (Sanath) Jayasuriya crop up but he has only been accused of failing to co-operate. Let’s not jump the gun with that investigation. We are trying to persuade governments to make cricket match-fixing a criminal offence and put these types of people behind bars,” the ICC CEO said.

Richardson was pleased with the new format of the 50-over World Cup which will feature 10 teams, all facing each other in the first round with the top four progressing to the semifinals at the 2019 event, a throwback to the 1992 tournament.

“We want World Cups to be a global showpiece event. T20 is the format to globalize the sport but there is nothing worse than seeing a match with one team completely out of their depth. It is harder to compete in 50-over cricket,” he said about the 10-team format.

Asked if weather could possibly raise controversy as it did in the 1992 World Cup with Pakistan scraping through after a rain-affected tie against England, he said, “We don’t want the weather to play a big influence on any tournament but rained out international matches in England are surprisingly few. English grounds have very good drainage. Also, Pakistan sneaked in but won the semis and final convincingly.”

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Premature to say any threat to 2023 Cricket World Cup

"""" Premature to say any threat to 2023 Cricket World Cup """"""

Dave Richardson, ICC's CEO, feels it is 'premature' to believe there are any threats to the upcoming world cricket tournaments in India. The international cricket body had earlier asked the BCCI to pay USD 23 million by the end of the year as compensation for tax deductions incurred in hosting the 2016 World T20.

"For the ICC, the tax exemptions are essential. The money saved by this is pumped into the sport by helping different cricket boards like the Cricket West Indies, who don't generate as much revenue as the BCCI," Richardson said on Thursday (January 31) at a promotional event. "However, it is premature to say that there is any threat over the 2021 and 2023 events. I am sure the matter will be handled soon."

Richardson is set to leave the role following the 50-over World Cup later this year and will be succeeded by Manu Sawhney. Looking back at his tenure, the South African said that getting India to agree on the Decision Review System was one of the high points of his tenure.

"It has been 17-year run for me with the ICC. It took a lot longer for us to convince the Indian cricket board about the DRS. I am glad that we managed to do that," he said. "It pleases me that ICC made progress in the technology aspect in the last few years. We were able to provide proper context and format in which all teams could perform."

He also defended the fixtures of the 2020 World T20, where India and Pakistan - with two of cricket's biggest fan bases - won't be facing off in the group stages. ""The group needed credibility and we used what we call the 'snake-method' where No. 1 went to Group A, No. 2 to Group B and 3 to Group A again and so forth. We wanted both groups to have equal quality," he said.

Even as regular allegations have come up against the game's governing body regarding anti-corruption activities, Richardson believes ICC has been quite pro-active in tackling the menace. "Earlier, the ICC only concentrated on educating the cricketers to inform us about illegal approaches by these nefarious elements. But we are starting to get more pro-active now. We are tracking these characters down and trying to disrupt their mode of operation."

"We are not only focusing on anti-corruption but for us keeping up the spirit of cricket is paramount. We have come down hard on cricketers bringing disrepute to the game," he further added referring to the suspension of Sarfraz Ahmed following his racial comments to Andile Phehlukwayo.

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