Gooch is convinced England can claim the crown

To do so, Andrew Strauss’s team need to come out on top in three more matches over the next two weeks – starting with Saturday’s quarter-final against co-hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Gooch, part of the England management think-tank as their specialist batting coach, fell at the last hurdle three times when England lost World Cup finals in 1979, 1987 and 1992.

But, at 57, he is hoping he can help England’s class of 2011 go one better than he managed in his playing days.

As England decamped from Delhi to begin their preparations to face Muttiah Muralitharan and company at the Premadasa Stadium, there was both a tinge of regret and renewed optimism in Gooch’s voice.

“Winning a World Cup didn’t happen for me,” he said.

“I hope this team have got it within them to win the World Cup – and I’m convinced they have.”

England’s progress thus far has been stuttering and has left plenty of room for improvement.

But Gooch, whose prolific 27-year career put him 10th on the all-time list of first-class run-scorers, is confident England have it in them to complete what – after their 2010-11 Ashes win – would be their most successful winter in history.

“They’ve come through this first stage of the competition, shown their fighting qualities and their resilience,” he added.

“We can get better, and if we do we have as good a chance as anyone else.”

On a personal note, it seems Gooch is still living the dream.

“It’s a great honour to be involved with the England side. When you come up as a youngster you dream about playing for your country.

“I was fortunate enough to do that – and now to be asked to help other players, who are representing their country, is a great thrill.”

Gooch knows all about how to get to World Cup finals, and believes England’s nerve-shredding campaign is no bad thing.

“The objective was to get into the knockout stages. We’ve made that, we’ve scraped through. We’re not going to look back, we’re going to look forward to the next challenge.

“We know we can improve, we know we’ve got better cricket within our team. Our guys need to concentrate on that.

“Each individual has got to commit to his game to be part of our team framework for the big match.”

The first quarter-final, Pakistan v the West Indies, is tomorrow.