Former England skipper Michael Vaughan feels winning a World Cup in India is like conquering Mount Everest and said he would be surprised if talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes doesn’t fancy a tilt at the 50-over showpiece.
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/i-would-be-amazed-if-ben-stokes-is-not-playing-50-over-world-cup-michael-vaughan-says-1.94516778
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#UAEnews #cricket #MichaelVaughan
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00:00I mean, they're a formidable white ball team.
00:03You know, Owen Morgan, Trevor Bailey set the ball running with the style of play that you're required.
00:10They've almost been a pioneer in the way that they have changed the way white ball cricket is played.
00:16What impresses me a lot about England is many things, but I think they're becoming a team that know how to peak at the right time.
00:23They've just lost in Bangladesh in the T20 series, great for Bangladesh,
00:27but I'm not concerned at all because, you know, England going into last year's T20 World Cup,
00:32you would think that if you actually looked at the rankings, you'd have thought,
00:35well, England have a chance because they're very, very good.
00:37But I didn't have them as favourites to win that one, but they know how to peak.
00:41They know how to play the big game.
00:43They know how to play the big stage.
00:45The 50 over World Cup this year in India for the men is probably the, it's Mount Everest.
00:52You know, if they go on winning in India, on the back of winning in the UK,
00:54on the back of winning in Australia in the T20, that is something not many teams go and do the double
01:01in terms of winning at home and then winning in a country like India where it's so different and so difficult to do.
01:08But I do think they'll give it a real good shot because of the mentality around the team, the skill levels.
01:13And as I said, they've got this great mentality.
01:17And the hardest mentality in sport is to have the big match temperament,
01:24knowing that you look around the dressing room and I think England can look around the dressing room
01:27and they have many, many players that know exactly how to play the big game.
01:32I think England are a team that have a huge amount of kind of players to choose from.
01:39You know, Rehan Ahmed makes his debut, young leg spinner.
01:43And I can see what England are trying to do.
01:45They're trying to give opportunities to players in these kind of bilateral series.
01:50You know, there was no Harry Brook there, no Ben Stokes, no Jonny Bairstow, no Alex Hales.
01:56So many of the players that possibly would be in the main 11 weren't there.
02:01So you could argue that they put up a good fight with the team that they had.
02:05They've got a group of players that are always going to be very, very competitive.
02:10For England now, it's about World Cups.
02:12Yes, you have to win games to get to the World Cup and you have to be a team that knows how to win to get to the World Cup.
02:18I have no doubt that this England side know what they're doing.
02:21I've never had so much confidence in a group of England players where I watch them, look at them and think
02:27they're all about the big stage, they're all about the big moment.
02:29If you suddenly gave them a series against India, Australia, I have no question that they'd arrive and play well.
02:36That's the kind of mentality that they kind of engulfed and the culture around the team is very much about winning the big trophies.
02:42I think in our time, we used to win lots of bilateral series
02:46and then suddenly arrive at the World Cup and do nothing.
02:48I like the opposite.
02:49I like this England side that actually might lose the odd bilateral by developing new players.
02:54As soon as they get to a World Cup, I have every confidence that they're going to perform.
02:58Well, I think they're better.
02:59That's the kind of honest answer is that I think they've got better players now.
03:05I think there's more of a mentality shift and a mentality across the whole game that white ball cricket is very important.
03:13I'm honest about my year in white ball cricket.
03:16White ball cricket was kind of important, but not as important as test match cricket.
03:20Whereas I think now it's quite flat.
03:21Test cricket to me is still the pinnacle.
03:23It's still the best format.
03:24And I still think the players believe that as well.
03:26But, you know, white ball cricket is very, very close.
03:29It's very, very close.
03:30Whereas in our era, it was very much test match cricket was the pinnacle.
03:34And white ball cricket was, you know, not I'm not saying it was a good distance.
03:38Yeah, but it was it was kind of a second thought in your skill set.
03:42I honestly think that England in the last year in test cricket is becoming quite, quite quickly.
03:48And it's only been a year.
03:50A team that's trying to change the way test cricket is played.
03:52No team in the history of the game has played the way that England have played in the last year.
03:57The Australian side of the 90s, early 2000s played an expansive game.
04:01We're great. So it's a great, great players.
04:04But even that great Australian team, by the way, this England team aren't great yet.
04:07But they're on a journey of trying to change the way test cricket is played.
04:11They're trying to make test cricket more exciting.
04:15They're trying to bring in this new audience who are particularly more influenced,
04:19probably by 2020 cricket, T10 cricket, 100 ball cricket.
04:22They're trying to say to those younger kind of new fans, look, watch test cricket,
04:26because what we're going to try and achieve in test cricket is what you watch in T20 cricket.
04:29But we're going to do it.
04:31We're going to do it for a longer period of time.
04:32We're going to try and score it five runs and over, if not more.
04:36We're going to declare at times that you wouldn't expect.
04:38We're going to always go for the win.
04:41By doing so, it's probably going to be a game that needs to be reduced in terms of time.
04:46I will get shot for this, but I will continuously say that Test Cache cricket
04:51over five days in my time was absolutely fantastic.
04:54I think the modern world, the modern game, everything about what cricket is now,
04:58for test match cricket to survive with all the leagues around the world,
05:01which are so powerful and so loved by the new audience,
05:06test cricket would be silly not to trial four-day cricket.
05:09I really believe that it's a four-day cricket played the way that England are playing,
05:13playing expansively in a league system where you have to go for the wins, draws don't count.
05:21I do think it's the way that test cricket will be played in the next few years.
05:23I think 50-hour cricket is just for World Cups.
05:27I think there's too many formats, there's too many leagues.
05:30We need test cricket to survive.
05:33T20 leagues are going to be there because they bring in a lot of revenue for the game.
05:38I think bilateral 50-over cricket is the one element of the game that I would get rid of.
05:43I think a 50-over bilateral series generally takes two to three weeks.
05:49I think the skill sets that these players and the pressure that they're under
05:52in all these leagues around the world,
05:53I think international teams know who their best players are.
05:56These younger players are getting opportunities in all these leagues,
05:59so you know that the experience factor is being given to them by playing in these leagues.
06:06I don't think you need bilateral 50-over cricket.
06:08I actually don't think you need bilateral cricket.
06:11I wouldn't have bilateral T20 cricket either.
06:13I'd just have the World Cups for the internationals and all around.
06:15I would be amazed if Ben Stokes isn't in India in October, November.
06:19He will be in India, I think.
06:21Ben Stokes writes his own script and I'd be amazed if over the next couple of months, three months,
06:26a lot will depend on that knee, he's got a dodgy knee.
06:29The ashes obviously can take a lot out of a player, particularly a captain.
06:34I'd be amazed if he doesn't fancy going to India to try and win a World Cup.
06:38I mean, it's great to be involved as a mentor, to pass on my information, my experiences,
06:44my joy for the game.
06:46Cricket is a game that I completely love.
06:51I want to try and pass on that energy, that love, that enjoyment
06:53that I've had over 40 years of playing, watching, now commentating.
06:58We need cricket to be a game for everyone.
07:00As long as they're playing cricket, I don't care what cricket they play.
07:03Because if they play T20 cricket, and that's why England play in the way that they're playing,
07:08I'm hoping that the generation that play T20 cricket realise that you can actually play
07:12T20 cricket style in Test Match cricket.
07:15That's pretty much what England have done over the last year.