England may have failed to conquer Australia in three attempts before the World Cup, but head coach Peter Moores is full of confidence for the future of his side.
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The tourists stumbled in Sunday’s Tri-Series title, defeated by the hosts by a comprehensive 112- run margin, but Moores does not see the first of three months in Australia and New Zealand as time wasted.
It is Australia, yet again, who await in the tournament curtain-raiser on February 14, but Moores is upbeat about his side’s prospects on the big stage.
Two wins over reigning champions India offer plenty of positives and, in both Hobart and Perth, England established dominant positions against Australia only to let them slide.
“This team’s got something about it,” concluded an upbeat Moores ahead of a four-day break for the side before training resumes in Sydney.
“We’re in a much stronger position now than we were when we came to Australia.
“It’s an exciting group of players to work with. I watch them play, train, hear them talking and there’s a lot of things in that group that feels right.
“The feeling I get is that we’re improving quickly which is really important because we’ve got to keep that improvement going through the World Cup.
“To win it we’ve got to keep getting better the whole way through. We’ve a group of players here who are very focused – as they should be – and they’re gaining some belief.”
A year or so ago, England’s first-choice one-day side would have featured a number of additional senior men such as Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott.
But Moores believes that what the current team lacks in international runs scored or wickets taken, it makes up for in enthusiasm and adaptability. As a coach, it is clear he thrives among a group who have yet to become jaded by England’s occasionally crushing schedule.
“We’ll take something from the performances here because we’ll sit and talk openly and honestly about what happened. That’s the beauty of working with younger players, they’re very open to changing things,” he said.