London: Coming into the 2019 edition of the World Cup, England were considered one of the favourites to lift the title. But after their loss to Sri Lanka in their last game on Friday, Eoin Morgan and boys need to win two of their last three games against Australia, India and New Zealand.
While the three have done really well in the tournament so far and are seated in the top half of the points table, what makes matters worse is the fact that England haven't beaten the three teams in the showpiece event in 27 years.
Taking to Twitter, statistician Mazher Arshad wrote: "England have not beaten Australia, India or NZ in World Cups for 27 years! They have failed to win 10 games in a row against Aus, Ind, NZ combined going back to WC 1992. And their next three games in this WC are against these three teams! #CWC19." So, while they walked into the tournament as one of the favourites, they are currently in a scenario where they might not even qualify for the knockout stages.
Captain Eoin Morgan urged his team to turn things around in their next match against Australia after their shock defeat to Sri Lanka. "It is a tournament where you need to adjust and turn things around," said Morgan.
"Naturally as a team we tend to come back strongly, that is our strong point. This is a long tournament and we have huge opportunities in every game. We have the chance to bounce back."
Morgan admitted that the target was achievable. "I thought we were really good with the bowl, adapted to the conditions and we restricted Sri Lanka to a chaseable total. But a lack of partnerships cost us the game. Couple of individual performances almost took us over the line," he said.
- Indo-Asian News Service
