Peter Moores has revealed England are treating the final game of the Royal London One-Day Series against Sri Lanka “like a final.”
A narrow seven-run victory at Lord’s helped Sri Lanka level the five-match rubber on Saturday, despite the brilliance of wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, ensuring tomorrow’s clash at Edgbaston is winner-takes-all.
And with a World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on the horizon next year, Head Coach Moores believes the showdown in Birmingham will act as perfect preparation for that tournament.
Asked about the significance of a series win, Moores said: "It would be great. We'll treat it like a final.
"We know we have a World Cup coming up, and there will be a lot of big games in that.
"It would be great to win the series, and we'll put everything we've got into it."
England have led twice over the first four one-day internationals courtesy of resounding victories at the Kia Oval and Emirates Old Trafford, only for the tourists to peg them back.
Heading into the decider, Moores has called on his side to produce the perfect display and claim the first series victory of his second spell in charge.
Head Coach Peter Moores has called on England to turn in the perfect performance against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston tomorrow
The former Lancashire and Sussex coach added: "So far throughout the series, we haven't quite put the complete game together.
"The closest one was at the Oval. I hope we'll do that tomorrow. We've shown we can beat them, and we can be very competitive.
"We're pretty confident that if we play well we have got a good chance of a win."
Whatever the outcome tomorrow, Moores has been satisfied with the way England have gone about their business since he took over the helm.
However, he admits one area that does require improvements is the top order, which failed to fire at Lord’s as they slipped to 10 for two inside four overs in pursuit of 301.
Moores added: “One thing I give the lads credit for is that, at the moment, the indicators are we are getting better.
“Our fielding is one indicator; it has got better throughout the whole series. Our batting has yet to fully fire at the top of the order, but we have at the back half. We just have to put all that together tomorrow.
“We are desperate to get a series win. Would it be great? Of course it would be great. We would love it.
"When you go into any contest, you have always got to accept if they play well then you have got to take it on the chin.”
Moores has impressed Sri Lanka's batting consultant, Chris Adams, in this rubber.
Adams, who was part of Moores' County Championship-winning Sussex side of 2003, said: "He's always been a wonderful coach, terrific coach, great personality.
"The one thing I do know about Peter is that he never sits still. He's always looking to move himself forward, and increase his knowledge base.
"He expands out of the world of cricket, and looks at other high-performance sports around the world and how to relate that back to cricket.
"Certainly from my own involvement in this series, and watching him and the rest of the team perform, there's been a choke back on the world of sports science and back to some old traditional good habits - good routines and rock-solid practice and preparation around cricket skills. At the end of the day, that's what it's primarily about.
"There is a place for sports science in cricket, and a very important place, but you have to get the percentages right."
ECB
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