Strauss confident of World Cup revival

London, Feb 9 (AFP) England captain Andrew Strauss haspredicted an upturn in his side''s one-day fortunes at theWorld Cup when he expects to finally have his first-choiceattack at his disposal.

Strauss returned to London yesterday after England''s 6-1defeat in the recent one-day series in Australia stillinsisting his team could match anyone in the world when theirfrontline bowlers were available.

Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad and AjmalShahzad, all members of the World Cup squad, plus ChrisTremlett, who is a reserve, were missing for all or part ofthe beating in Australia.

But Strauss expects them to be firing and giving Englanda much-needed lift ahead of their first World Cup fixture,against the Netherlands in Nagpur on February 22.

"Our bowling attack has been the basis of a lot of ourone-day victories over the last 12 or 18 months, Strauss toldreporters at Heathrow Airport here yesterday.

"We have had a settled bowling unit who really know theirroles really well and have bowled very well in tandemtogether.

"There is no doubt we missed that in Australia and Ibelieve our bowling attack is a match for anyone in the world.

"They should be fit but they need to find some rhythmpretty quickly and the batsmen need to do their job," theleft-handed opener added.

"The atmosphere at the World Cup is going to be veryintoxicating and very motivating. All the best players in theworld will be there and ultimately only one team is going towalk away with that World Cup.

"We would have liked to have won the one-day series inAustralia as preparation, but some of our players who have notbeen involved have had an opportunity to have a little bit ofa rest through the fact that they were injured," Straussexplained.

"They are going to come back into the fold and add a hugeamount of impetus." MORE (AFP) CM