A look at England ahead of the World Cup.

Australia @ Melbourne Cricket Ground - February 14th

New Zealand @ Wellington Regional Stadium - February 20th

Scotland @ Hagley Oval, Christchurch - February 23rd

Sri Lanka @ Wellington Regional Stadium - March 1st

Bangladesh @ Adelaide Oval - March 9th

Afghanistan @ Sydney Cricket Ground - March 13th

The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup is just weeks away and the teams are making their final preparations before heading to Australia and New Zealand on February 14th. In the fourth and final of our series previewing the top competing teams we take a look at England and how they will cope at this year's tournament.

Squad

All the talk in English cricket leading up to the World Cup has been the departure of Alastair Cook as one-day international (ODI) captain. Cook was removed from his post in December following a series of disappointing performances both in Tests and ODIs. The final straw came after a 5-2 series defeat in a tour of Sri Lanka.

While Cook stated that he would not resign his captaincy, selectors felt it was time for a change and installed fellow batsman Eoin Morgan in place of Cook. The former captain was not only relieved from his position but has lost his place in the World Cup squad and will take some time out of ODIs to concentrate on his Test career.

The man who takes Cook's place in the squad is Yorkshire batsman Gary Ballance. It is a surprise recall as Ballance has not featured in ODIs for England since last summer but did hit 64 in a win over Sri Lanka at The Oval in May. Also in the 15-man squad is James Anderson and Stuart Broad who have recovered from injury. Moeen Ali and Joe Root will once again be England's main hope after encouraging recent performances.

National selector James Whitaker said: "We have had to make some difficult decisions to get to our final squad but firmly believe that the 15 players selected offer the very best chance of success at the World Cup."

Full squad: Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan (capt), Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.

Who are they up against?

England have been handed a tough draw in Pool A and will face both host nations in the opening two matches. They kick off their World Cup by facing an in-form Australia side at Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 14th. England will be out for revenge after suffering a humiliating whitewash Ashes defeat to the Aussies last year.

From Melbourne, Eoin Morgan's men travel to Wellington to take on a New Zealand side buoyed by a home crowd. The two sides last met in 2013 where a tense battle in Cardiff saw England win by ten runs. England will stay in New Zealand for matches against Scotland and Sri Lanka in Christchurch and Wellington respectively.

England will be looking to get one over on Sri Lanka after a disappointing recent tour, which brought an end to Alastair Cook's ODI captaincy. Heading back to Australia, England round off their group games with a match against Bangladesh in Adelaide and Afghanistan in Sydney.

Many English fans will be hoping the closing group game at the Sydney Cricket Ground is not the last and that Morgan's side move on to the knockout phases.

World Cup history

When it comes to the World Cup for England it has been a case of 'always the bridesmaid, never the bride'. Since the competition was launched in 1975, England have been runners-up on no less than three occasions - in 1979, 1987 and 1992. This agonising track record comes despite England hosting the tournament four times.

The first route to the final in 1979 was sandwiched between two semi-final appearances in 1975 and 1983. Despite having the backing of the Lord's crowd, England were unable to beat a West Indies side, inspired by the batting of Vivian Richards. In 1987, England were once again in the final, this time facing Australia at Eden Gardens in Calcutta, India.

In what was a much tighter affair, England fell short reaching the Aussies' total of 253/5 and lost out by just seven runs. Just four years later, England were at it again and had reached the final against Pakistan at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground. While many thought it could be third time lucky but it was not to be.

The 1992 final was won by just 22 runs as England failed to reach Pakistan's total of 249/6. That is pretty much as good as it gets for the English in the World Cup and since then the best they have to show for their efforts are two quarter final appearances in 1996 and 2011.

England will be wanting to light the fire of 1979, 1987 and 1992 and go that one step further to bring the title home.

2014 form

The past year could not have gone much worse for England. Ending 2013 with a whitewash defeat to Australia in the Ashes was followed up with ODI and Twenty20 series losses against the Aussies. There was a small highlight beating the West Indies in a ODI series but memories of that galvanising loss were soon forgotten when the World Twenty20 got underway.

England won just one game in Bangladesh and exited at the group stage. Alongside defeats to New Zealand and South Africa, the tourists were hugely embarrassed when minnows the Netherlands scored a 45-run win to send them crashing out.

Under pressure captain Alastair Cook gave himself a stay of execution when India were dispatched in a Test series. However, Cook's fate was sealed following the 5-2 ODI series defeat to Sri Lanka.

England will be looking for huge improvements when they kick off their World Cup campaign in Melbourne on February 14th.