England backed to motor towards Cricket World Cup glory and make history again
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Nasser Hussain is spending the weekend preparing his daughter for her driving test – and the ex-England captain is expecting Jos Buttler's side to be motoring in the World Cup.
The reigning champions open this year's tournament in a repeat of the dramatic 2019 final by facing New Zealand on Thursday.
Hussain will be in India while his daughter Layla takes her test on Wednesday but expects Jos Buttler's England to have their feet firmly to the pedal throughout the tournament.
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"It's not a case of 'can we get through group stages and get to a knockout', this era of white ball cricket have their aim to win," Sky Sports analyst Hussain told Daily Star Sport.
"I asked Buttler if 'you're going to defend your World Cup', and he turned to me and said 'nope, we're going to win the World Cup'. They want to create history. It's only Australia and the West Indies that have retained a World Cup . And England want to be the third.
"If they lose to India in a final, or Australia, they won't be coming back being glad to have made it to the final. Not this present regime of white ball cricket."
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England won a memorable final in 2019 though India are favourites to win the World Cup this time around on home soil.
Ben Stokes came out of ODI retirement to feature in the squad while Harry Brook was given a late call-up in favour of Jason Roy, who has been struggling with back spasms. It's a decision that raised plenty of eyebrows given Roy's ODI record two centuries in his last six matches – but Hussain believes it is the correct call.
"Sometimes in selection, you can confuse matters a bit," Hussain said. "You think about so many different options, permutations, and balance.
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"Sometimes you've just got to get a piece of paper and work out who are our best six batters. For me Harry Brook in white ball cricket, in fact in any cricket, is in the best six batters.
"It means you may have to leave one of your all-time great white ball players in Jason Roy. But I thought they did it the right way by including him in the preliminary squad. Roy has been world class, so it is very, very harsh on him.
"But with the way Dawid Malan has been playing too, and with Roy's injury, that's maybe why they've gone in Brook's direction."
Former Test captain Joe Root is also set for a spot in England's top three, expected to come in at the fall of the first wicket.
Root hasn't hit an ODI century since the last World Cup four years ago, but Hussain is in no doubts over one of England's greatest ever batters.
"Joe Root's fine," Hussain scoffed at the suggestion Root may be counting his lucky stars to even be included in the squad. "Joe Root is Joe Root.
"What's amazed me is Joe has taken this long to have a mini slump in one format. I'm amazed the amount of times you look up and he's 30, 40, 50 not out. He's so consistent.
"And perhaps that's why we think he hasn't got runs for a while. He'll be fine, he is Mr Dependable."
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