England's ODI captain Eoin Morgan has declared himself ready for the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup and has played down his recent lack of runs.

Despite scoring only 2 runs in his last 4 innings the skipper believes a good score is just around the corner.

“I went through a little bit of a bad patch before Christmas but I feel that since I started with the Sydney Thunder and the Big Bash I’ve started to turn things around," he said.

Morgan failed to score in England’s defeat to Pakistan on Wednesday but knows that will quickly be forgotten if he contributes during the tournament.

“I’ve had a couple of low scores but obviously I’ll look to cash in on Saturday if I manage to get past 10 or 20 balls,” he said.

“It’s only four or five games since I scored a hundred so I don’t have to look that far back to reconnect with what works well for me.

“I took a lot from the hundred I got at Sydney, particularly as it was against Australia. I took a lot of confidence from that. I find it really easy to reconnect with the past and what I do well and can be very individually focused when the chips are down.

“I’ve done that in the past on a number of occasions when I’ve gone through low scores.”

England have lost 13 of their last 15 ODIs to Australia in Australia but Morgan believes his side can turn the tables by shocking the co-hosts and favourites to win the tournament.

“I think it’s important we focus on what we do best,” he said.

“I think a lot of times in the past we’ve strived to find a formula that hasn’t been ours.

“One change we’ve started to turn-around since we’ve been here, is learning to adapt with what we do well in Australia as opposed to what anybody else does. And if we can reproduce our best cricket on Saturday, I believe we’ll be able to beat Australia.”

Whilst England are hoping their skipper finds his best form, Australia’s captain has been ruled out of the opener.

Michael Clarke made 64 on Wednesday on his return to action after hamstring surgery. Opening the batting, he impressed in Australia’s final warm-up match, against the United Arab Emirates in Melbourne.

Head coach Darren Lehmann expressed his delight that Clarke had come through unscathed but stated that he wouldn’t feature against England.

“He pulled up really well,” said Lehmann.

“But no, he’s not playing on Saturday. We’re happy with the way he pulled up and are really happy with his progress.”

Clarke was thought to be keen to face his old adversaries but Lehmann and his fellow selectors and team medical staff came to the conclusion that February 21st would be a more sensible return date for the captain.

"He's very keen to play. But we've got to make sure when he gets back he's ready to go and he will be come Saturday week," Lehmann said.

"Everyone was sitting around talking about it and making sure we make the right decision. 

"He just had a chat. He's respectful of what we're trying to do to get him right. 

"We would have loved to have him available for this first game, but we're making sure he's 100 per cent ready to go for Bangladesh."

 

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to take in what promises to be an absorbing contest and secure your seat now.