World Cup peak in England's reach

This capacity for survival did not just happen by accident, though. It begins first of all with the selection of players who are recognised to have a bit of mongrel in them. A good few years ago, I suggested to Hugh Morris, the ECB's managing director of England cricket, that it was imperative that England found out all about character and temperament before rather than after selection and wondered whether psychometric testing might help in this. Subsequently, the team psychologist, Steve Bull, produced a 100,000-word thesis on the subject. Whether this has been used I know not, but I do not recall a questionable temperament being chosen in recent years.