Adil Rashid believes England’s World Cup blowout in India will have no impact on the defence of their T20 crown this summer, claiming they still have “the mindset of champions”.
Jos Buttler’s side surrendered their ODI title meekly last year, crashing out in the group stage after six defeats from nine games, but still hold the 20-over title they claimed in 2022.
Competition is likely to be fierce again in June when the T20 World Cup takes place in the West Indies and United States of America, but Rashid is confident there is no scarring from their tournament trouble last time around.
Instead, the leg-spinner trusts a change of format will help unlock his side’s winning mentality.
“We are not thinking of what has gone on in the past, we’re not thinking about the poor World Cup or people not being in form. That’s a completely different format,” he said.
“Yes, we had a poor run or whatever and we didn’t play well: bat, ball, as a team, as a unit, everything. But I think this is a completely different format where we’re currently world champions. You have the mindset of champions.
“We’re confident. We’ve got the team, we’ve got the mindset, we’ve got the players, we’ve got the experience. If we go out there having that same belief, I think we’ll hopefully go all the way.
“Prior to that we may not be playing well but as soon the tournament comes, people can turn up, teams can turn up and just switch on and win the World Cup.”
England have one warm-up series against Pakistan in May before they fly to the Caribbean and are expected to name a squad, as well as the provisional World Cup group, next week.
Jofra Archer is highly likely to be included, 14 months on from his last international appearance and with the usual lofty expectations, but captain Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott look set to rely on many of the same players who came crashing down in India.
Rashid held his head above water amid those poor results, leading the wicket charts with 15, and will once again be a central part of the plans. At 36, he may not have too many more World Cups left, but he is already doing his bit to help lay a line of succession.
Rashid funded the building of the cricket centre that carries his name in his native Bradford and can often be found mentoring aspiring players alongside a coaching staff led by brother Amar and including the likes of former England seamer Sajid Mahmood.
He was also on hand to help the England and Wales Cricket Board launch a new national tape ball competition in Birmingham last week, and is passionate about helping those in communities like his own prosper.
“It’s only 10 minutes from my house. When I’m at home, I pop in, see how things are, have a little train, have a little bowl myself with whoever’s there,” he said.
“There’s a lot of youngsters where we’re from in Bradford, a lot of people who want to play cricket with good talent. We’ve had many youngsters come through that are already playing for Yorkshire academy, playing under-11s, 13s, 15s, second XI.
“One of the main reasons for opening the cricket centre is to give that next generation of cricketers coming through the opportunity to potentially make it to professional cricket, but that’s just one part of it. The other part is to make sure you’re getting people off the streets and creating a community where people can come and play.”
CWI's Lead Selector Haynes confident in T20 World Cup squad- “We’ve got a team that can win this World Cup”
CWI Lead Selector, Dr. The Hon. Desmond Haynes, believes the squad that has been selected to represent the West Indies at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup set for June 1-29 in the Caribbean and the USA can replicate the performances of the region’s title-winning squads in 2012 and 2016.
“This is a very good time in West Indies cricket. I believe that we’ve got a team that can win this World Cup and I feel damn good about this,” Haynes said in a Friday press conference announcing the squad.
“We’ve had preparations for the last year. The majority of the players, we had them involved and they were very successful. This is a very exciting time for us and I would hope that everyone in the Caribbean and all the West Indies fans support us because this is our best chance,” he added.
Also on hand at Friday’s press conference was West Indies Men’s ODI and T20I head coach Daren Sammy who also expressed confidence in the squad ahead of the tournament.
“We’ve known how to select winning teams. We’ve done it before and I think, as a selection group, we’re really excited about it,” Sammy said.
“It’s an exciting time and this preparation did not start now. It started from the last World Cup in Australia. What we’ve been able to do throughout the last year as a T20 group, the players we’ve exposed, has brought us to this moment and I think we’re about to knock it out of this world,” he added.
Two of the standout names in the 15-man squad were pacer Shamar Joseph and Shimron Hetmyer.
Joseph made his Test debut during the recent tour to Australia and became a worldwide phenomenon when he took a seven-wicket haul in the final innings despite an injured foot to give West Indies a dramatic eight-run win at the Gabba in the second Test. It was West Indies' first Test win in Australia since 1997.
This will be his first opportunity to represent the West Indies in the T20I format. He’s currently getting his first crack at franchise T20 cricket as he is a member of the Lucknow Super Giants in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
“You really can’t question Shamar Joseph’s skills. We saw him in Australia. We were looking at someone up front to bowl in the first powerplay and we think he ticks that box for us,” Haynes said.
Hetmyer is making his return to the squad after being left out for the tour of Australia. Haynes said it was a tough time deciding whether to pick Hetmyer or Kyle Mayers.
“It was a very close decision between Kyle and Hettie but we look at it from the point of view that we wanted the extra batsman to be one batting down the order,” he said.
Since the start of Daren Sammy’s tenure as head coach, he has always placed an emphasis on the importance of roles in a successful T20 outfit.
He believes that this 15-man group has covered all the necessary bases.
“We are ready. When you look at role definition from the group we’ve selected, I think we’ve come up with the best combination to help us win this World Cup.
The hosts will open their campaign against Papua New Guinea at Providence in Guyana on June 2.
Full squad: Rovman Powell (C), Alzarri Joseph (VC), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
Shamar Joseph in as West Indies announces 15-member T20 World Cup squad
There were no real surprises, as West Indies announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
The Darren Sammy-coached squad to be led by Jamaican Rovman Powell includes all the usual suspects, with rising fast bowling sensation Shamar Joseph being the only fresh face to the T20 unit.
West Indies, a two-time champion, having won the tournament in 2012 and 2016, will contest Group C of the global showpiece alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, and two ICC Associate teams, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
The Caribbean side is scheduled to kick off its title charge against Papa New Guinea on June 2, in Guyana.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until 25 May, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.
More to come...
Squad: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosain, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd
"We are where we want to be": Spooner pleased with response at box offices despite early glitches
Despite some early glitches at Kensington Oval’s box, in Barbados, Philip Spooner says things remain on the up where ticket sales for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is concerned.
Spooner, the tournament’s global media operations Manager, acknowledged the early problems, but said efforts were made to rectify the issues, as cricket fans flocked the venues to secure tickets for the highly-anticipated June 1-29 tournament, to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
To celebrate 30 days to go to the start of the tournament, box offices were opened on Thursday until the end of the event across the six host locations -Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua Recreation Ground; Barbados: Kensington Oval; Guyana: Guyana Cricket Board Office; Saint Lucia: Daren Sammy Cricket Ground; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Commercial Centre, and Trinidad and Tobago: Queen’s Park Oval and National Cricket Centre -in the West Indies.
“We apologise to the members of the public for the challenges that they faced, but we are very happy to see people coming out because it shows the level of interest, and this is a tremendous first day of operations.
“People want to be part of this event and they are participating meaningfully. We are very happy about that. We will put everything in place that needs to be put in place for our customers, our fans, who are the biggest supporters of the games,” Spooner said in an interview with Barbados Today.
“So far, the atmosphere has been amazing; there has been a lot of attention to the tournament globally, it is literally out of this world. We had the launch of the amazing anthem and the music video with Sean Paul and Kes, two of the best and most visible global artists in the region. We are very happy with that aspect of how things are going. The preparations of the fields and pitches have also been good, obviously, there is still work to be done as we are a month away, but we are where we want to be,” he added.
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