England captain Eoin Morgan believes victory over India at the WACA Ground tomorrow would provide a significant boost ahead of the World Cup.
Success over the world champions in Perth would book England’s place in the Tri-Series final against Australia on Sunday.
That would provide a measure of the progress that Morgan’s men have made since arriving Down Under – highlighted by the thumping nine-wicket win over India in Brisbane – and the 28-year-old is determined to ensure his side take another stride forward.
“Yeah, I think (tomorrow’s game) is important,” he said.
“Given the sort of lack of success we’ve had before this tour, we’ve built a lot of confidence in our preparation in the game at Brisbane and in performances leading in to the start of this series.
“So as momentum and confidence goes I think it is quite a big game.”
Morgan sees the chance to meet Australia in a big-game atmosphere – the final will also be placed at the WACA Ground – as an opportunity not to be missed.
England lost both group games against Australia, including a high-scoring battle in Hobart last week, and will open the World Cup against them at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Valentine’s Day.
“The opportunity to play in a final, given that we have to get past India tomorrow, and produce high-class cricket to get past India – the opportunity to play Australia on Sunday is huge,” added Morgan, who remains acutely aware beating India first will be no easy task.
“I think India are a very dangerous side; right down their line-up they do have match-winners.
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“They have a lot of experience and they have some young, exciting players so again we won’t take them for granted.”
England have spent the past week in Perth in preparation for tomorrow’s game.
That has provided the type of lay-off between matches England can expect when the World Cup gets going, with the players given a couple of days off to start the week before settling back into some intensive training to focus mind and body ahead of the winner-takes-all clash.
“A huge emphasis for us on this tour is going to be game-day focus,” added Morgan, who will enter this year's Indian Premier League auction after opting out of last year's.
“The guys had two days off and we’ve had three hard days of training. It was a bit lighter today. I think the guys are just keen to get going.
“It will be at stages like this throughout the World Cup that we need to get ready for and an emphasis is going to be on match day and being mentally and physically fit as we can to take on whoever it is.”