LONDON: There are expectations. Then there are pressures of expectations. England will be under an enormous amount of both when Eoin Morgan leads his men out on to Lord’s on Sunday. For them, it’s a matter of shedding 44 years of disappointment as well as enhancing the profile of the game in a country where cricket faces challenges to be second on the popularity charts, jostling with rugby.
“It’s now or never. This is our best chance,” said the lady on the reception of the museum at the world’s most famous cricket ground. There is a clamour for tickets and anticipation among the public. Outside the ground, there were expectant faces on Saturday morning, hoping against hope if there were any tickets, when there were none.
Having played some fearless --- if one dimensional at times --- cricket, Morgan’s men are the favourites to win England’s first World Cup. Aggressive batting through 50 overs was the key to their rise to the top of ODI rankings before the competition. They have added bowling to it. Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer first up, followed by the leg-spin of Adil Rashid, they can take wickets, ask Australia.
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But given that World Cup finals are not only about skills and expectations can sometimes be detrimental, England have a fight against themselves as well the opponents. Morgan indicated his team is aware of that. “The level of excitement is high, messages you get, people you meet on the street... We're going to try and take in as much as we can. It's a World Cup final, and we're not going to shy away from that. As long as anything doesn't affect performance, we're going to take it in.”
A lot of former players in England make a living out of commenting on the current team and this time it has reached a fever pitch. Ian Botham, Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen --- to name just a few --- reckon this is their best chance. Morgan is looking at the positive side of that. “The support we've had has been unquestionable and as a team we feel extremely lucky to have that.”
Although they may not have liked the way they qualified, the three defeats England suffered in the league stage have worked in their favour. Back to wall early on, they had to treat the last few games as knockouts and that has kept them on their toes. Morgan feels this made his job easier. “You see what the mood is like in the camp. If it's down, you need to pick it up. If it’s too high, you need to bring it down. Over the last three or four games, it's been right on point, I haven't had a lot to do.”
On a day sports loyalty in England will get divided between cricket, tennis and Formula One, a lot of them will have their eyes glued on Lord’s. “Is the Cup coming home?” They had asked last year at the football World Cup. They are asking the same again. This time, there are genuine expectations rather than hope. The last two times the home team made the World Cup final, they won it.