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Ramprakash wants 'no fear' England

Most teams have begun to shift their ODI cricket into World Cup gear, but for England, the trip to Sri Lanka is not so much a training run for the big event, as it is an expedition

Most teams have begun to shift their ODI cricket into World Cup gear, but for England, the trip to Sri Lanka is not so much a training run for the big event, as it is an expedition. Dismissed as World Cup no-hopers by former players near and far, they are looking for the means with which to hoist themselves out of their one-day funk.
They are in search of one thing in particular. England are now in the homeland of early-overs batting aggression; where explosive starts first found consistent expression in Sanath Jayasuriya's cuts, flicks and jabs. So England have installed Moeen Ali into the opening spot, at the expense of Alex Hales, hoping he, and England, discover something of what the locals had formulated back in 1996.
The first phase of pursuit for ODI-edge has been hampered by the north-east monsoon - the weather has intruded on both their practice games, washing out their second at the P Sara Oval. But while batting coach Mark Ramprakash admits England are a World Cup wildcard, he hopes Moeen's 37-ball 56 in the first warm-up has lifted chances of uncovering something that will transform their approach. Moeen's knock had begun with six fours in an over.
"Moeen made a real statement there, not just to himself, but to the whole group, as to what hopefully is the sort of brand of cricket that we want to play," Ramprakash said. "We have to assess and adapt to conditions as well, but essentially, the mindset that we want to adopt is to go in and try and put pressure on the opposition.
"You don't often see that from an English player - to go out and play with flair and confidence. We're so pleased that he's done that and the group as a whole have spoken about trying to release the shackles and play with a no-fear attitude. It was fantastic to watch."
England would like the whole top order to adopt a more carefree approach, Ramprakash said. England's ODI strategy has recently been criticised, most notably by Graeme Swann, who suggested the team was playing an outdated version of the game.
"Essentially, the main thing to improve is mindset, for me," Ramprakash said. "I think although they've got an England shirt on, it would be good if they can go out and play with the freedom and confidence as if they're playing for their counties. That's very difficult to do, but we want to create that feeling in the group. The mindset walking out should be: 'We're going to try and impose ourselves.'"
Ramprakash suggested that being widely written off could even help unlock a more attacking dimension to England's cricket. "I think it's fair to say that England, for the World Cup, would be a wild card. Form in the past few years suggests that. But I'd like to think that if England can release the shackles, and play almost as underdogs, that could greatly help. There's a mentality of 'no fear' when you're underdogs."
Though England are seemingly after higher strike rates from their top order, captain Alastair Cook's more measured style appears to be at odds with that goal. Ramprakash suggested Cook was already seeking to assume a more aggressive avatar for ODIs. Cook had also had made a half-century in the tour match, at a strike rate of 87.
"Alastair has been great to work with, because he's very open to evolving his game. You can only praise him so much. Sometimes you can have success as a Test player - and he's been very disciplined in that format - to be able to open up your game for one-day cricket is not easy. But he's wholeheartedly committed to that, and I think you saw some signs in that knock that were very encouraging."
Ramprakash said communication was key to England's improvement in the format. "It was a case of working with all the players, and asking them: 'How do they want to go out and play? What's their brand of cricket?' All of them are open to evolving their games, and realise they have to - such is the modern game.
"We've got a group here that's communicating very well, and they're learning off each other. They're not afraid to talk to each other, and they are open to the discussion of ideas. That's really healthy, and it's not something I've seen a lot of in an England dressing room."

Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando