You have made some excellent points. I will take my time to answer them individually.
Sorry but this logic is beyond ridiculous. If we follow this, in all sports the team who were favourites going into the tournament will always deserve to win because they had prepared for it best.
That is true, isn't it? Usually in every tournament, there is one (or more) teams that deserve to win more than others. That of course doesn't mean that they always win.
You completely ignore the multitude of other factors. For example, England have been lucky to strike gold with a couple of brilliant white ball players at the top of the order - Roy and Bairstow. You could argue they develope those players but to get the players with that potential together is quite lucky.
As I have stated numerous times, England were definitely lucky to turn things around so quickly because they already had players like Roy, Bairstow, Buttler, Stokes etc. in the system. If they didn't have these players, it would have taken them longer for their change of mindset to bear fruit.
However, these players were in the system before the 2015 World Cup as well, but England did not have the right mindset. They moved on from players like Cook (just before the World Cup), Anderson, Broad, Bell etc. ruthlessly. They deserve credit for dropping these players ruthlessly even though they almost won them the Champions Trophy in England in 2013.
Also with the number of foreign talent in their lineup, you could argue they have half English parents or that they moved to England when they were young. But the fact is, England is a developed country, with a strong well-paying county system and the legacy of a global empire. So ofcourse it will attract immigrants. This is not to put them down. It its to say that non cricketing factors have led to a significant proportion of the team. What chances to countries like Pakistan or Sri Lanka have of getting that same advantage?
But it also means, with that much talent at their disposal, they dont necessarily need to be the hardest working team to be the best.
England have a very small talent pool when it comes to white. The entire population over England is about 60 million (more than 3 times less than Pakistan), and the population of the white British is falling, and most of them end up playing football anyway.
As a result, in spite of benefiting from Asian minorities as well as getting players from South Africa, England's talent pool is still very small compared to Pakistan, and thus attracting immigrants hasn't really given them an advantage over a country like Pakistan, who will always have far more cricketers to choose from and far more cricket enthusiasts to sell them the sport.
Sri Lanka though is a tiny country and they have done very well to stay competitive, thanks largely to their very strong school cricket culture.
And thats the second point - you have absolutely NO basis for saying England have prepared for this World Cup more than other teams. Just because they did an overhaul in 2015 does not mean they prepared more. Just because they performed better than other teams ... does not mean they prepared more, they are simply just better players.
My basis is how the moved on from their Test-style players ruthlessly in a very short period of time, gave chances to attacking players and adopted a clear strategy of how they wanted to move forward. Which other team prepared more than England? Any examples?
India in spite of having the biggest talent pool in the world and the IPL have completely failed to build a middle-order in years. I refuse to believe that they are no proper number 4 and number 5 batsmen in India, but it is just that they have planned poorly and have underestimated the importance of adding depth to their lineup.
Australia have had zero impact on ODIs in the last 3 years. Apart from getting smashed by England a dozen times, what exactly what have they done in ODIs? They left their preparation to the last minute and by the time they gained momentum with the wins over India and Pakistan right before the World Cup, it was too late. You could tell from their team combination that they haven't put much thought into some of the selections.
Pakistan have played like a minnow for two years and have completely ignored the non-performers in the team including the captain himself. They entered the World Cup as a 6th ranked team and a 13 match losing streak, hoping for miracles and magic and 1992.
South Africa have failed to inject new blood into their batting lineup. They carried deadweights like Amla and Duminy to the World Cup and carried Steyn who cannot bowl a single spell without getting injured. Yet another team that floundered in the World Cup because of poor decisions and poor planning.
I can write about other teams as well. Which team exactly prepared better than England for this World Cup?
I would argue the complete opposite of your logic. If a low ranked team gets to the final and wins, they deserve it far more. They are clearly an inferior team as shown by the results leading up to the World Cup. However during the World Cup, they have raised their game, worked hard and held their composure to beat stronger teams on paper.
In my view, it greatly depends on the team. For example, if a team like Afghanistan, Bangladesh or even Sri Lanka play the cricket of their lives and ends up winning the World Cup, you can say that they deserve it. However, when a team like Pakistan makes no concrete effort to prepare, makes idiotic decisions, doesn't push the panic button after years of pathetic performances ends up winning the World Cup, they definitely don't deserve it, because they don't deserve to have things go their way because of their ill-planning and lack of respect towards the game.
We won the Champions Trophy as an 8th ranked team, but we made a complete mockery of that tournament and devalued its prestige after playing like minnows after the Champions Trophy. That is not a sustainable model for success and you cannot learn anything from it. On the other hand, England have set the bar for others to follow - they have set standards, because they achieved success through a process.
Pakistan's preparation for the 2023 World Cup should start today and they should be ruthless with dropping players who don't fit the style of play that they want to impose. Unfortunately, we will still be 5th or 6th in 2023 and will once again try to replicate 1992.
