Hussey nominates World Cup dark horse

Former Australia batsman Mike Hussey says England, under new skipper Eoin Morgan, are the dark horse for the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Cricket’s one-day showpiece starts in a month’s time when host nations New Zealand and Australia take on Sri Lanka and England respectively.

Australia are favourites to win their fifth 50-over crown, and while Hussey has nominated powerhouses South Africa to challenge Michael Clarke’s men, it’s England’s new-look team that could cause the biggest surprise of the six-week tournament.

"South Africa have a really good team,” Hussey said.

"They played a series out here earlier on in the summer and they would have learned a lot from that.

"England are a dark horse in this World Cup. 

"They’ll fly under the radar a little bit, no one’s really giving them a lot of chance. 

"They’ve got some really experienced, quality players but they’ve also got some really good underrated players, guys like Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, very underrated and if they can just get their confidence up and move through the tournament, they can be a bit of a dark horse.”

England’s recent ODI tour in Sri Lanka was a disaster, thrashed 5-2 as champions Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara played their final one-dayers on home soil before giving the format away entirely after the World Cup.

While England’s 50-over form went backwards, the reputations of Woakes and Ali were enhanced as both men announced themselves as serious limited-overs competitors.

Warwickshire right-arm seam bowler Woakes was the leading wicket-taker for the series, becoming the only Englishman to take six wickets in an innings twice in ODI cricket when he claimed 6-47 in England’s five-wicket win in Kandy.

Ali’s promotion to open the innings proved a masterstroke when he struck his maiden ODI ton in the first match of the series in Colombo, playing with the aggression that saw him clear the boundary on 12 occasions – three times more than any other player.

While Ali flourished at the top of the order, his partner Alastair Cook floundered. 

After a horror run with the bat that yielded only one half-century from his last 22 innings was coupled with the heavy defeat in Sri Lanka, the England & Wales Cricket Board were forced to dump Cook from the ODI team, instilling Irish-born batsman Morgan as the man to lead England’s World Cup campaign and break a 40-year tournament drought.

Morgan is no stranger to Australian fans. The 28-year-old has played for Sydney Thunder in the KFC T20 Big Bash League for the past two seasons alongside Hussey, and the Australian champion believes Morgan’s relaxed demeanour could be just what the England squad need to be successful in the World Cup.

“He’ll be brilliant,” Hussey said on Morgan’s appointment as skipper. 

“He’ll be very important that he’ll bring a very relaxed attitude and atmosphere. 

“(He’ll) tell the guys to get out there and enjoy themselves (with a) relaxed dressing room and if you can create that environment there’s going to be a lot of pressure out in the middle and stress. 

“If you have that relaxed environment off the field hopefully that can transcend on to the ground.

“You never know, it’s a long tournament and you need a lot of luck along the way as well. 

“He’s a quality person and I think he’ll bring a lot to the team.”