James Anderson speaks exclusively to ecb.co.uk
By Matt Somerford
James Anderson believes England will be better off for making one-day international cricket their sole focus leading up to the World Cup.
England will only play the 50-over form of the game between now and their World Cup opener against Australia at the MCG on February 14.
In that time they will play a minimum of 11 ODIs, starting with a seven-match series in Sri Lanka, which begins at the end of November.
Anderson hopes that England’s “very promising squad” can start to build momentum in that series before arriving in Australia, where they will play a tri-series also including India before the World Cup begins.
“Leading up to a World Cup we’ve never had that focus on one-day cricket,” he told ecb.co.uk.
“It’s nice to have that and I think with the one-day game we’ve got a promising squad, a very promising squad.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted against India so it is something that we obviously need to improve on, starting in Sri Lanka in a couple of months’ time.
“Hopefully we can get some momentum going and build up to Christmas and then once we go to Australia for the World Cup – we’ve got a tri-series before the World Cup – we’ll be in some good form and have an idea of who our strongest XI is.”
England have never won a major one-day international tournament after they fell agonisingly short in the Champions Trophy final at Edgbaston last summer.
Last time England played at a World Cup final in the Antipodes they also reached the decider – their best ever result at the tournament.
“The World Cup is a huge deal for everyone and it is something that we want to do well in,” Anderson said.
“It’s something that, we’ve never won a 50-over ICC competition so it is something that we are striving for. We’re just hoping that this Sri Lanka tour can be a springboard for that.”