“We’ve got to get the balance right in our side”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England head coach Peter Moores has announced that “we have to find the right people” prior to the start of the 2015 World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand.
Moores’ comments come after India took a 3-0 lead in the ongoing ODI series with one match left to play.
“When people say ‘you’re going to go back and play like England in the 19 whatevers’, that’s not what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re pretty clear on a strategy to go and be successful. We have to find the right people to put that in place.
“But 50-over cricket isn’t quite the same as people just walk out and whack it. The best sides don’t do that either.”
Moores also noted that it is time to balance the national team with players that can hold an innings together and players who strike the ball a long way and make quick runs consistently.
“We have seen the game changing in the way people are striking the ball, and we’ve got to get the balance right in our side,” he said. “We’ve also got to believe in ourselves in what we’re building towards, both as a coach and a team, so we find a style of play that can be successful against the best sides.
“But we’ve got to work fast. We’ve got to accelerate the development of the team quicker than might be normal to get ourselves really competitive by the World Cup.”
England’s batsmen have struggled against India’s spinners throughout the ODI series, and Moores pointed out that this is one of the main areas in which the national team have to improve, especially before they travel to Sri Lanka in November since the pitches there are renowned for being spin-friendly.
“Playing spin is an area where we want to improve,” he said. “We’ve got some good players of spin – like (Ian) Bell, (Alastair) Cook and (Eoin) Morgan – but we have to deliver in a one-day game.”
There has been a lot of talk about Bell, Cook and Joe Root not being the best choices for the ODI squad since their playing style is more suited for Test cricket. However, Moores came to the defence of his batsmen, saying that all of them have the ability to shift gears at any point in time.
“If you look at any top-flight team you’ve got a couple of guys in the top order who are striking somewhere round about 90 and are averaging about 50,” he said. “We’ve got players who can do that.
“There’s been lots of talk about scoring 300. But that doesn’t happen all the time, and in certain different conditions you have to score what is a winning score on that pitch.”