Eoin hoping to coin it in once again

WHEN the coin goes up at the toss this morning, England fans could be forgiven if they start feeling their hearts travelling north with it.

Not only has captain Eoin Morgan won six tosses out of nine at this World Cup, suggesting the luck of the draw may soon start to even out, but there is a belief that the hosts are a better side setting a target than they are chasing one.

England could, though, also point to numbers strongly hinting that since the last World Cup – a debacle that prompted the team’s white-ball revolution – they have been versatile in that regard.

They have won 33 and tied one of their 44 chases since the 2015 edition, an impressive ratio of 75 per cent.

Morgan even admitted he went in to this tournament thinking that chasing would be the way forward.

Yet England’s defeats against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia may have disturbed that belief – particularly the latter two when Morgan’s men were shaken by the loss of early wickets.

In contrast, they have not lost when batting first at this World Cup – a tournament in which 75 per cent of the teams who have won the toss and elected to have first use of the wicket have won.

There is no logic to suggest England’s ability to chase should have deserted them on the cusp of the final.

And if they have on occasions lacked confidence in this campaign, that has been plenty to do with the hamstring injury to Jason Roy, above, that ruled him out of three matches and two defeats.

The imbalance between chasing and setting has been particularly marked at some grounds, including Old Trafford, where no team has chased successfully in six games.

At Edgbaston, the team winning the toss has won three out of four, but only two out of three when the decision was to bat first.

There is little doubt what Australia will do if they manage to win the toss, not only because of England’s wobbles when set a target, but given they have won their last 11 matches batting first, including six in this tournament.

And also because skipper Aaron Finch has been on the wrong side of seven out of the nine coin tosses so far.

If Morgan will be fearing his luck turning, Finch will be hoping that his is about to change as well.