- The 2010 winner pointed out that Matthew Mott’s team were lucky to pick up a point against Scotland.
- The opening match against England’s associates was cancelled due to rain.
- Swann believes Saturday’s opponents, along with West Indies, are a likely contender for a place in the final.
Former world champion Graham Swann insists Saturday’s showdown between England and Ashes rivals Australia has become a must-win game after a rain-hit start to their Twenty20 title defence.
Swann smiled and said taking a point from Scotland was something of a crisis averted given England’s dismal record against associate nations in the tournament.
In fact, Swan was part of Andy Flower’s team that was going down to Ireland at the same stage of the 2010 World Cup, also played in the Caribbean, when the match was abandoned due to rain.
But in all seriousness, Swann said: “The cancellation makes this game against Australia a must-win.”
“So England can’t go into the game thinking, ‘Yeah, yeah, we want to win, but it’s okay if we lose’, because that attitude is like a cancer for a team and you won’t win anything. So England will be forced to go all out against Australia, which I think is a very good thing.”
“If you look at the evolution of England’s limited-overs cricket under Eoin Morgan, it’s been all about being highly aggressive.”
“Last year in the 50-over World Cup we were a bit too cautious and we weren’t the same, putting ourselves at risk for a few balls,” he said.
“On paper, this England team is the strongest at the World Cup, but only if they take that brave decision and really try to dominate their opponents.”
“They have some crazy talent. Will Jacks is arguably the most exciting newcomer in the IPL this year and his fifty and then his hundred in six minutes in Ahmedabad was an incredible blow.”
“It was also against Rashid Khan. The best bowler in the world was being attacked relentlessly by England’s youngster. Jos Buttler is Jos Buttler. If you look at the top six you’ll see all the bases are covered.”
Swann added: “The pitches have been a little lighter recently but throw Jofra Archer in and it’s just fantastic. Is there any batsman in the world who is happy to stand there and hit Archer or Mark Wood here and there without any fear of physical harm? Jofra’s pitches are just like rockets and that’s a very good thing.”
Thinking about the main threats to England’s success, Swann named India and the West Indies, before adding: “By gritting his teeth, our friends Australia. Like Germany in football, you don’t want Australia to do well, but they always get to the final.”
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