ICC World Cup 2019: England's probable 30-member preliminary squad
England will be one of the favourites going into the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. They have the favourites tag not because of them playing hosts to the mega piece event but for the brand of cricket they have played in the last three years. It all started with a disastrous 2015 World Cup where they failed to qualify to the knock-outs.
Despite the world fast-tracking towards T20 cricket, England continued playing Test brand of cricket. Although it reaped rewards in the longest form, they couldn't win in the limited-overs format. With England appointing a new captain just weeks for the 2015 World Cup, they never seemed threatening.
A first-round exit served as a blessing in disguise, as they revamped their playing style and squad. They adopted an aggressive brand of cricket and that has paid rich dividends. Post-2015 World Cup, England have made four of the top five highest scores in an innings which includes three 400+ totals. England also have the best Win-loss ratio since the 2015 World Cup.
Let us look at the possible 30 players who might make it to the World Cup Probables list.
Batsmen: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Joe Denly, James Vince and Ollie Pope
Their batting lineup shows relentless hitting from ball one and that is the main cause of posting huge totals. A fearless approach has been the feature of this batting line-up as they keep scoring boundaries even in the middle overs. The competition for the batting slots was evident when Hales was dropped against India after scoring 147 a few weeks earlier to accommodate all-rounder Ben Stokes.
All-rounders: Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, David Willey
England's strength in recent years has been the quality of all-rounders they have produced. They have players like Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali who can bat in the top-7 and also bowl eight to ten overs. Their squad will be filled with bowling all-rounders who have contributed to the success of England with the bat and can win games on their day with the bat as well. Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and David Willey are such players.