Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has said that England are the favorites to win the World Cup this summer.
In contrast to their patchy Test form, England sit at the top of the world ODI rankings ahead of a pivotal summer on home soil. There’s the World Cup that gets underway in less than 100 days, followed by the Ashes against Australia in August.
“They've got every facet required to win a World Cup. They've got the power, they've got the combinations, they've got the kind of mystery and the variations in the middle with the ball. They've got a leader in Eoin Morgan who knows exactly what he's about, what his team are about and they've got a little bit of star quality,” said Vaughan.
The format of the 2019 World Cup is such that all 10 teams play each other in the group stage before four progress to the semi-finals and then two reach the final. Apart from England, Vaughan added that India too could be the team to beat this summer.
“I think with India I think there's two standout teams in the One-Day game as we speak. But don't rule out three or four other teams, Pakistan, even the West Indies. If you look at the West Indian kind of group they are going to be a threat to all teams. Australia again, you can never, ever, write the Australians off. So around that group of five that I've mentioned I think the winner of the World Cup will come,” he said.
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