Eoin Morgan, newly appointed captain of England, will hope to lift the actual trophy in Melbourne on March 29.
Newly appointed England captain, Eoin Morgan said leading England at next year's ICC Cricket World Cup will be a 'huge honour' and recounted the experiences of the day that ended with him being made captain of England.
"It's been a long and interesting day. I had 20 missed calls from James Whitaker - I thought I better give him a ring. I called him back and he said 'we'd like to offer you captaincy'," Morgan said in an interview with ecb.co.uk.
The Middlesex man was offered captaincy after the ECB selection committee decided to axe incumbent skipper Alastair Cook in the wake of England's disastrous ODI series against Sri Lanka which they lost 5-2, their fourth ODI series loss of the year. "I was delighted to be asked. Being offered captaincy is awesome. It was nice to wake up to a call to say you are England captain," Morgan said. "Its a huge honour to lead an extremely talented group of guys during a really exciting period, with a tri-series against Australia and India and then the World Cup," he added.
Eoin Morgan, despite struggling for form in Sri Lanka, has emerged as one of England's batting mainstays in the shorter forms over the last couple of years. Morgan, however, is not a first time captain. Being Cook's deputy, he took over captaincy duties a fair few times. In his eight matches as skipper, Morgan averages 71.16. "Its a responsibility I really enjoy. In the games and series in which I have captained, the responsibility has helped my game. Its been a nice distraction that has worked well in the past," he reasoned.
Despite England's poor record in ODI tournaments since last year's run to the final of the Champions Trophy, Morgan remained optimistic of doing 'something special' at the World Cup in Australia. "The potential with the guys is really exciting. We need to start producing consistent performances and if we do then we could be on the cusp of doing something very special," he said. "We have gone away from the traditional type of cricket we've played in the past and replaced it with a more expansive style. The signs in Sri Lanka from the batting unit were good and the players have belief in the style that we want to play."
England will play Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in their World Cup opener on February 14th. "It's going to be a great test to see how quickly we can adapt and whether we can continue to play the positive style of cricket we've shown in the last four or five months. The squad has gone through a transition but I think we've made major strides in the way we want to play," he said.
"The World Cup game at the MCG will be a spectacle, something I'll remember for a long time. But, I'm not looking too far ahead. The main focus is the tri-series," Morgan added.
Morgan also added that he had spoken to out-going captain Alastair Cook and added that there were no hard feelings between the two.. "It was a really tough day for him. We get on really well and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He has wished Peter Moores and I well for the World Cup," he summed up.
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