It is going to take a monumental effort from England to repeat the success they achieved in the Twenty20 World Cup.

A very disappointing turn out in the one-day series in Australia, followed by a series of unfortunate injuries, has meant that their preparation for the event could hardly have been worse.

Of the current crop of injured players, I fear that Eoin Morgan will be the biggest loss. He had a tough time out in Oz but his ability to improvise would have suited the sub-continent pitches and I would have backed him to do well.

There has been a lot of talk of the crazy schedule the players are facing at the minute and I am sure the last thing they feel like doing is boarding another plane, Jimmy's air miles will have gone through the roof! It is, however, a World Cup after all and I am sure once the boys land on Indian soil they will be fully focused on the job in hand.

The difficulty now facing the Flower/Strauss combination is to get the right side to suit the conditions. Having never played one-day cricket on the sub-continent my views are somewhat limited. Here they are nonetheless, and we can see how accurate I am afterwards!

I have no doubt that the early powerplays will be the best time to score, particularly as the tournament progresses and the pitches become more worn. Strauss still looks in good touch so I expect him to set the tone early, but who with?

In general I would favour Ian Bell, but this would mean Strauss taking the aggressive role and Bell looking to play the anchor. A left field selection could be Luke Wright to try and 'give it some licks' as they say in Barbados!

Trott is in great form and his confidence sky high but it will be Collingwood and Pietersen who will be the key players. Both have IPL experience which will be very valuable and have games suited to all kinds of surfaces, both are due some runs as well.

From a bowling perspective I have no doubt Jimmy will lead the way and perform well. Shahzad has the ability to reverse swing the ball, as does Bresnan, and both could be surprise packages if fit. My other key man would be Swann, he was obviously struggling with fitness in some of the games in Australia and if fully fit he still has the ability to deceive the worlds best batters.

In summary Strauss, Collingwood, Pieterson, Anderson and Swann are my key men if England are to have success. They will certainly be facing some tough competition, I can't see past the sub-continent teams who I expect will all be in contention with India being crowned winners. I'd also like to give a quick mention to our mate Francois du Plessis who has been picked in the South African squad, we all wish him well, except against England of course.

Finally, for anyone interested, I am running a benefit function at Belle Vue greyhounds on Feb 17th, visit www.markchiltonbenefityear2011.co.uk for more details.

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