‘We don’t fear losing’

The former England captain was a part of the English side,which got beaten in World Cup finals against the West Indies (1979),Australia (1987) and Pakistan (1992).

“Winning a World Cup didn’t happen for me. I hope this team have got it within them to win the World Cup — and I’m convinced they have,” said Gooch. Gooch,who posted the Test record score of 333 against India in 1990 at Lord’s,although have helped his team win a couple of Ashes series but failed to lift the coveted Cup during his long and distinguished career.

Impressed with the current England team’s fighting spirit,Gooch said,“They’ve come through this first stage of the competition,shown their fighting qualities and their resilience. We can get better,and if we do we have as good a chance as anyone else.

“The objective was to get into the knockout stages. We’ve made that; we’ve scraped through. We’re not going to look back; we’re going to look forward to the next challenge.” In a see-saw group phase,England tied the match against India,chasing a record World Cup target of 339,finishing at 338 for 8. Against South Africa,they snatched a dramatic six-run win victory in a low-scoring thriller in Chennai.

But they lost to minnows Ireland and Bangladesh,while somehow managed to prevail over the Netherlands. They also came back from the brink of defeat against the West Indies in a match they had to win to reach the knockout stage.

Gooch,was brought back into the England set-up by head coach Andy Flower,said his team is all set to take on Sri Lanka in the last eight stage on the co-hosts’ own turf in Colombo on Saturday. “Sri Lanka in their own country are a top team — world-class players with lots of experience. But that’s one of the beauties of playing the game. You look forward to those challenges,to coming up against those players.”

Hailing veteran Muttiah Muralitharan,Gooch said the legend’s presence would make the England-Sri Lanka quarterfinal contest even more interesting. “Muralitharan is a world-class bowler,who’s been around for a long time and makes the contest even more juicy than normal,” said the former skipper.

He,however,said that England were not worried about losing or winning. “But England are not worried about winning or losing. What they’re worried about and should be concentrating on is getting our own game right,playing the game we want to play. “If we do that,we’ll have a good chance of winning that quarter-final. They won’t fear that opposition; they’ll look forward to competing with that opposition,” he said.