England captain Eoin Morgan keeps a diary that serves as areminder of the four-year journey his team has made, from no-hoper to beingwithin one victory of winning the Cricket World Cup. Some of the entries in theearly part of 2015 will make for brutal reading.Others, particularly over thelast couple of years, will bring a smile to his face and a feeling of pride.

One day will have been circled from the outset: Sunday, July14, 2019. The World Cup final at Lord's. Morgan's and English cricket's datewith destiny."If you had offered us the position," Morgan said,"to play in a final the day after we were knocked out of the 2015 WorldCup, I would have laughed at you."Yet England will be there, walking outat the home of cricket as favorite against New Zealand in a match that willcrown a first-time winner of the sport's biggest prize.

And it's apt that the Black Caps are England's opponents onSunday, as they were the yardstick Morgan wanted his team to be measured by.Quitefrankly, the one-day game in England was a mess four years ago, light yearsbehind the rest of the world. There was no plan in place, the team had noidentity, the selection was all wrong.Hence the embarrassment that came to bethe 2015 World Cup campaign.