By Will Jackson
England captain Alastair Cook sees no reason why his side cannot carry their Test form into the one-day arena when they head to Sri Lanka.
England go to the sub-continent to continue their preparations for the 2015 World Cup, with an unprecedented diet of one-day cricket scheduled, starting with a seven-match series versus Sri Lanka.
Cook is looking forward to a run of games, and also wants his side to recreate the spirit from the Test series victory over India in the summer.
Speaking at a Lord's press conference, he said: “There was a great feeling about the place at the Kia Oval when we won there and now we’ve got to recreate that in one-day cricket.
“We see this as a great opportunity for five weeks to have a fresh side.
“A lot of one-day cricket is played on the back of Tests when guys have been tired, but we have these five weeks where we can’t use that as an excuse, and just chatting to the lads at Loughborough and in London these last couple of days has been fantastic. We can’t wait to get out there and prove what a good side we can be.”
Cook echoed team-mate Eoin Morgan, who has called for consistency in performances if England are going to move forward as a one-day outfit.
The skipper said: “We know the challenge ahead of us. We’ve got seven matches – that’s quite a long series, so to win we’re going to have to play some very consistent cricket which is something which we haven’t always done in the past in one-day cricket.
“We’ve had the last couple of weeks together as a team and we’re really excited about the chance to go out to Sri Lanka and test ourselves. We know what the prize at the end of that is, a place in the World Cup.”
Plenty of kit bags around at ECB HQ today as England prepare to fly to Sri Lanka this weekend #SLvEngpic.twitter.com/9DzM3JjzFv
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) November 14, 2014
Cook also said that the new scheduling means that England go into a World Cup in the best possible shape for a long time, but warned that there would be no excuses should they disappoint.
He added: “We haven’t since 1992, I think, done ourselves any justice in World Cups so obviously the planning to make sure we are fresh and ready to go – we’ve got that.
“We’ve got a great opportunity and I, for one, am really excited about playing one-day cricket when we haven’t got Test cricket in the forefront.”
Despite a disappointing run in the World Cup, England reached the final of the Champions Trophy last year and Cook thinks that his side could be dangerous if they find their form.
After praising the squad rotation system that has been in place, he said: "The last time we had a full-strength side that played one-day cricket was the Champions Trophy and we played really well.
"That’s what our goal is, but for the next five weeks as a side we’ve got to concentrate on winning in Sri Lanka."