[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Squad: Jos Buttler ©, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.

Becoming the first nation to hold both white-ball World Cups at once last autumn wasn't quite in the script for England; yet somehow, as things do, it came to pass.  The narrative until then had been of a colossus in decline, newly shorn of its talismanic leader Eoin Morgan, lacking the young blood and zeal for victory that might have prevented 2021's semi-final defeat.  But whether the Bazballing red-ball revival put fresh wind into English sails, or pundits simply underestimated the team who've consistently been pushing the boundaries (often literally) of limited-overs cricket since 2016, skipper Jos Buttler and the newly-rehabilitated Alex Hales managed to carry the run burden on their backs - at least until Ben Stokes' timely half-century swung the chase in the final - while Sam Curran, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid consistently kept opponents on a leash, and the result was another round of glory for the golden generation in the autumn of their careers.

Still, twelve months on the whispers are back.  And they're not without foundation.  England's squad has a median age well in the thirties (and would have been older still had Harry Brook not replaced Jason Roy at the last minute), Ben Stokes has felt compelled to rescind his own retirement like some bucket-hatted Arthur striding forth from Avalon, and England slipped to 5th in the world ODI rankings after a post-T20 World Cup whitewash in Australia, a series defeat in South Africa and a tour of Bangladesh where even the Tigers gave us a bloody nose.  So the team that's been cobbled together in the past month - and managed, to their credit, a series win over New Zealand - has something of a makeshift feel to it despite the wealth of talent in its ranks.  This isn't the well-drilled, well-oiled machine that Morgan took soaring into the stratosphere in 2019, but a clanking contraption that could just as easily explode on the launchpad as hit light speed.

But if England are going to wither in the fiery furnace of an Indian autumn, we're liable to know sooner rather than later; the cagey conditions in Ahmedabad and Dharamsala will be an immediate test of character, and Bangladesh in particular shouldn't be underestimated in the shadow of the Himalayas, where low clouds favour the pacers in the second innings and the short boundaries can tempt rash shots even from the best.  Elsewhere, the ICC have outdone themselves in pitting England against the rest of the subcontinent in the most spin-friendly conditions - India in Lucknow, Pakistan in Kolkata and Sri Lanka in Bangalore, though we're at least in Delhi for Afghanistan and mercifully spared Chennai altogether - while the encounter with the Netherlands in the batsman's paradise of Pune could be one for the record books.  And on the subject of record books, 140 more runs for Joe Root in this tournament will make him England's greatest World Cup run-scorer of all time, surpassing Graham Gooch, while 10 wickets for Chris Woakes will lift him above Ian Botham as our World Cup bowling GOAT.

The truth is, England in this World Cup are a walking metaphor for one-day cricket: ageing action heroes planning one final heist, parachuting in from the land that created the format to the land that's fast making it irrelevant.  We don't know whether there'll be a new generation to replace this golden one, as our best youngsters learn to face a hundred balls rather than fifty overs, any more than we know whether the ICC will still regard ODIs as a commercially viable format in a decade's time.  But if these golden boys are the last Englishmen to ever conquer the world in fifty overs, then may their farewell gig be as long, sweet and fitting as they deserve.

Highest World Cup total: 397-6 vs Afghanistan (Old Trafford, 2019)
Lowest World Cup total: 93 vs Australia (Leeds, 1975)
Highest World Cup innings: 158, Andrew Strauss vs India (Bangalore, 2011)
Best World Cup bowling figures: 5-39, Victor Marks vs Sri Lanka (Taunton, 1983)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: Graham Gooch, 897 runs
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Ian Botham, 30 wickets


Tournament Schedule: New Zealand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Netherlands, Pakistan