England’s cricketers fully prepared for yet another World Cup campaign

A sixth World Cup in less than five-and-a-half years – if one includes the Champions Trophy – suggests an overfamiliarity with such events that runs the risk of diluting the magic.

To that Champions Trophy last year, a 50-over World Cup in 2023 and T20 World Cups in 2021, 2022 and 2024 is another T20 World Cup starting today (Saturday).

No wonder things seem to have gone a little bit stale.

England head into the event which is taking place in India and Sri Lanka as most of the leading bookmakers’ third or fourth favourites to win it, inter-changing with South Africa, with India the clear favourites, followed by Australia.

England avoid India, Australia and South Africa in their group, where they play Nepal (1,000-1 to win the trophy) in Mumbai tomorrow; West Indies (33-1) in Mumbai on Wednesday; Scotland (1,000-1) in Kolkata next Saturday, and Italy (2,500-1) in Kolkata on Monday week.

On that basis, it is not bats that England will need in the coming few days but great big cigars, given that progress to the Super8s should not be too problematic.

On the other hand, this is the England cricket team that we are talking about, so perhaps best to forget that last sentence.

At least England are fully prepared for the challenge this time.

They warmed up by beating Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20 series just gone, and have a talented and settled team at their disposal.

Phil Salt and Jos Buttler, the opening batsmen, are ranked No 2 and No 3 in the world respectively, behind Abhishek Sharma, the precocious Indian left-hander.

Adil Rashid - still going strong in the month of his 38th birthday - is ranked No 4 in the bowling rankings, the Yorkshireman’s silken skills as luxuriant as ever.

England bat deep, have plenty of talented spin and all-round options and are sharp in the field; there is reason for optimism - if not quite cigar-puffing sanguinity about their chances.

One man who does not feature prominently in the T20 rankings - he comes in at No 25, in fact - is another potential trump card on paper.

His name is Harry Brook, the captain who has lately had so much media attention that he is the cricketing equivalent of the Labour party.

Brook - leading England for the first time in a global competition - has recently been “clocked” by a nightclub bouncer; admitted lying in public about the events of that boozy evening in Wellington hours before a game; branded one of Sri Lanka’s pitches “probably the worst I’ve ever played on”, and then performed an optically injudicious “beer smash” celebration on reaching a brilliant century.

He is, as Brendon McCullum put it, “a work in progress” off-the-field, although the head coach’s assertion that Brook “wears his intelligence lightly” perhaps strayed a little too far towards portraying him as some sort of Lieutenant Colombo figure – sans, of course, the trademark cigar.

Just one more thing…

What Brook has done – quite brilliantly – is continue to perform his day job with style and aplomb.

His unbeaten 136 to clinch the one-day series in Sri Lanka prior to the T20s was a remarkable exhibition, the Yorkshireman facing just 66 balls and sending 11 of them to the boundary and nine over the rope entirely.

An innings of 36 was no less brutal, or crucial as England then established an unassailable 2-0 lead in the T20 series, Brook facing just 12 balls on that occasion and hitting four of them for six.

McCullum also said that Brook has “a very good tactical cricket brain”, something few would dispute.

Inevitably, given the fallout from the Ashes, this has the air of an important few weeks for McCullum and Rob Key, the managing director of England men’s cricket.

Why it should be, though, is a moot point, for would a T20 World Cup triumph really paper over the cracks of what happened in Australia?

A strong performance in the tournament, while clearly desirable, should not really have too much of a bearing, in this view, on the best men to take the team forward.

Italy are playing in the World Cup for the first time, by the way, which sees the 20 nations arranged into four groups of five.

Each country plays four games, with the top two in each group advancing to the Super8s, which comprise two groups of four. The top two from those groups advance to the semis.

The final is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on March 8 - although “scheduled” is sadly the operative word.

Should Pakistan make the final, then it will be played in Colombo. Should Pakistan and India make the final, then it might not be played at all.

Alas, the build-up to the competition has been dominated by sundry political factors. Bangladesh pulled out - to be replaced by Scotland - because the ICC would not allow them to move their fixtures to Sri Lanka, having cited security concerns about playing in India.

Having complained about that decision and the ICC’s apparent bias towards India, Pakistan are now refusing – on government instruction – to take to the field for their group game against India on February 15, raising the possibility of further problems should the teams be pitted together in the knockout stages.

If only cricket was about the simple battle between bat and ball – the one thing these days it seems never to be about.

Hey ho. May the best team win yet another World Cup.