Chance for England to break staid mould

Kevin Pietersen will have been absent from England's side for more than a year by the time they begin their World Cup challenge but the after-effects of his departure have been evident in the build-up to the tournament. For almost a year, England professed loyalty to Alastair Cook as they sought stability - and what they saw as decency and integrity - after the excesses and the tensions of the Pietersen era. While they extolled Cook's upstanding character, he could barely buy a run. Finally, with Christmas approaching, they saw through their moral fog and sacked him. His replacement, Eoin Morgan, offered a chance to play a more adventurous brand of cricket that would at least shake many England supporters out of their disillusionment.

As long as England swore allegiance to Cook, and the conservative, methodical approach that went with it, their ODI side performed below its potential. Tactically, England have been wedded to protecting wickets and accelerating later in the innings. Although this will often possess some logic in Australia and New Zealand, especially with two new balls available, the strokemakers have persistently had too much ground to make up. Alex Hales' presence at the top of the order can help to address that - although he might be more at home with the lower bounce of New Zealand's pitches.

If the sense is that England's batting has been performing below capacity, especially as a preponderance of allrounders allows them to bat deeper than many, there are more doubts about their bowling. Regardless of James Anderson's wonderful career, a World Cup on Australian pitches is not his forte. There is no spinner of repute (for all of Moeen Ali's wonderful introduction to international cricket) nor a proven death bowler. Even if the batting catches fire, those weaknesses will linger.

Like the England football team, as they headed to Brazil, England's cricketers will find few proclaiming that they have a chance of success. They should resist the comparison - they have a much better chance than the footballers, but it would still be quite a turn-up if they won their first World Cup. At least now, with Morgan at the helm, they have a puncher's chance.

England have never won the World Cup. Although that record is tempered by the fact that they have been beaten finalists on three occasions, and by their first success in a global limited-overs tournament at the 2010 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, the World Cup failure rests as heavily upon them as a rushed meal on a tense stomach.

Even those three losing finals have long receded into the distance. They came in the first five tournaments: against West Indies at Lord's in 1979 and then twice in succession, against Australia (1987) and Pakistan (1992). The closest they came to winning the prize was the seven-run defeat against Australia in Kolkata.

For a significant talent capable of that extra something look no further than Jos Buttler. In his unassuming ability to play exciting one-day innings, Buttler is like Pietersen without the ego, or Morgan without the hitman's eyes, and he can turn a game quicker than anybody. But there is another definition of X-Factor, less well used now, simply to mean an unpredictable variant in a given situation, one that could have most impact for good or bad. For that look no further than Morgan: England's fortunes are wedded to his ability to re-find his batting form and, now that he has been elevated to the captaincy, rouse the side's self-belief.

Eoin Morgan
At 28, Morgan's reputation is now at its highest. Too often he has seemed at odds with the safety-first philosophy of England's ODI game, often coming to the crease with a heavy responsibility to stoke up the innings. Now he has a chance to tweak the tempo. His meagre batting form and poor captaincy record at Middlesex might have contributed to the selectors' dalliance in replacing Cook. For England to succeed, Morgan must be at the centre of their success.

Stuart Broad
As soon as he arrived in Australia, Stuart Broad sounded in combative mood, extolling the virtues of reverse swing and reminding umpires that changing a ball purely because it has started to reverse is an unfair repression of the fast bowler's art. England's decision to omit Ben Stokes after a horrendous international year has left them without a combative allrounder and one of the few people who showed up well on England's disastrous Ashes series in 2013-14. That puts more onus on Broad to carry the fight not just with hot streaks with the ball, but by chipping in with some hitting further down the order.

Jos Buttler
Predictions that Buttler will become a world star in one-day cricket do not please everyone because there is no strut about his game. Yet frankly, after the drawing of swords over Pietersen, an ego hidden under a layer of modesty is no bad thing. Buttler is the sort of star everybody can admire. His ability to strike a cricket ball is special, he has more confidence than he might at first suggest and the range of his game is growing.

Conventional and methodical - at least until now. England are armed with statistics that persuade them that if one of their top four makes a hundred, however carefully, their chances of victory are high. To be armed with two new balls for a tournament being fought out in Australia and New Zealand informs them that four quality pace bowlers are essential. They are the team in the Levi's 501s, but with Morgan's elevation to the captaincy they may at least be gazing at current fashions.

England's prospects of finishing in the top two in Pool A are undermined by the presence of both home nations in the same group, but if they can avoid India in the quarter-finals that experience might hold them in good stead. If they can address a few glaring issues, they can press for the semi-finals and even that will outdo many forecasts.

Colin Firth: the ever-present sense of English reserve and conservatism; a sense that, however carefully they prepare, the excitement of the world is somehow slipping them by. But Firth has won one Oscar - so there is always hope.

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - Rolling Stones