England out to win - Andrew Strauss

Andrew Strauss believes England have an "excellent chance" of surprising the more fancied sides at the Cricket World Cup, which starts on Saturday.

England, last of the 14 teams to arrive on the subcontinent for the marathon tournament, have injury problems and have just been beaten 6-1 by Australia.

But skipper Strauss insisted: "We're here to win it and we're excited."

Even with batsman Eoin Morgan missing through injury, and Stuart Broad likely to be rusty having not played since early December, Strauss reckons England will be able to adapt their talent pool to the demands of 50-over cricket well enough to win outright.

Strauss also suggested England would attempt an adventurous brand of cricket, having faltered too often through undue caution in the past.
"We've got some pretty firm ideas about how we want to go about our cricket here, and we hope we take some other sides by surprise by doing that."

"We're going to have to play well on the subcontinent - something English sides haven't done brilliantly in the past - but I think we have the raw materials, a lot of talent in our squad and guys who can play expansive cricket and aggressive cricket. "

Do you think Strauss is overly optimistic, or quietly confident?

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/9396367.stm

Overly optimistic to say the least.

Strauss is saying all the correct things of course, but the World Cup always follows immediately after a long, hectic Ashes tour for England, and preparation hampered by mental fatigue and injuries, which is not ideal. Apart from no real break since returning from Aus, the team's confidence is also low after that 6-1 drubbing. I don't expect England to do that brilliantly, though reaching the last eight and hopefully rebuilding some form and confidence will surely be the first aim, and then it's all on the day come the knockout rounds. If they're still in it, they obviously have a chance.

shouldnt England always look to win as they have shown plenty of times they have the quality to beat any team on their day

Of course Strauss is saying all the right things. He would be absolutely slaughtered in the press if he said they could'nt win. Personally i cant see England doing too much, injuries and fatigue has been massive factor in their preparations after the Ashes.