England cricket turns to Manchester City for help ahead of T20 World Cup, bring back former psycholog | Cricket News

England cricket team has hired Manchester City football club’s psycholog ahead of the T20 World Cup in June.
David Young, who was part of the men’s setup between 2016 to 2020, has been associated with the English Premier League champions during their recently successful reign that has seen them lift the league title four years in a row. For now, he has returned back in the England dressing room on a temporary basis for the marquee tournament in the US and Caribbean.
“He’s previously been with the team and he’s already been a great ally in messages back to me, making sure my messages are clear,” Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball coach, said. “It’s always good to have someone who’s a little bit removed from the squad to make sure you’re landing your messages… He’s still doing other roles but we’ve got him for this series, and the start of the World Cup as well.”
Stressing on the need for Young in the dressing room, Mott described the T20 World Cup as ‘death a thousand cuts’. He said, “When you’ve had the kick in the pants like we’ve had, you can’t just go ‘business as usual’. You have to redefine how you go as a team. As a group, we’ve made a commitment to be a bit more open in and around our training sessions, to help each other out a bit more. In India, all of us were guilty of being a bit insular, and trying to problem-solve ourselves. We’ve made a commitment to open up and be a bit more vulnerable as a group so that we’re helping each other.”
England are currently featuring in a four-match T20I series against Pakan in preparation of the World Cup in June.
It was skipper Jos Buttler, who had initiated the early exit of England internationals from IPL ahead of the business end, as told England men’s managing director Rob Key. “Look, as England captain, you’re obviously going to have this series against Pakan. How do you see it?” And straightaway, he said, “No, no, I want to come back and start getting ready for the World Cup in that series that’s just before it,” Key was quoted saying ESPN Cricinfo earlier this month.
“We feel like it’s time to get the mojo back and go out and really express ourselves as a team. I think T20, as opposed to ODI, is so much clearer in the way the players can approach it. We’ve seen in the IPL, you have to go out and really take the game on from the start. Most teams are going to go that way, so it’s going to be an exciting World Cup,” Mott said.

England are grouped alongside Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman and will kickstart their T20 World Cup campaign against Scotland on June 4.
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