THE true spirit of this World Cup will be on display at the SCG on Friday when England’s collection of plucky full-timers and extravagantly paid battlers attempt to end their fairytale campaign with an upset victory over Afghanistan.

Spirits are high in the England camp after their best defeat of the tournament so far, a brave 15-run loss to Bangladesh. Coach Peter Moores now claims an against-the-odds victory over the Afghanis is a realistic possibility.

“We’re not saying we will beat Afghanistan,’’ said Moores clutching a wad of printouts.

“We’re saying the data here doesn’t say we can’t beat them. Which, when you study the curve of our performance graph, means the probability parameters are in alignment.’’

media_camera Eoin Morgan and co couldn’t face up to the heat.

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England’s plucky efforts against more traditional cricket playing nations have made them a crowd favourite and put pressure on the ICC to review the policy of reducing the number of so-called minnows at the next World Cup.

“We obviously understand England is never going to win the World Cup,’’ said Ashton Smeaton-Smythe who has organised a petition calling for England’s retention.

“But, who knows, kids in places like Leeds and Birmingham might see Englishmen really are capable of competing with Bangladesh or the UAE and try to play the game themselves.’’

England’s brave attempt to mix it with the heavyweights has inspired the producers of ‘Cool Runnings’ – the movie about the Jamaican bobsled team – to plan a new production chronicling their exploits.

‘Computer Says Yes!’ will star Colin Farrell as captain Eoin Morgan while Eddie Redmayne will play “the data’’.

Among England’s many stories of brave defiance is that of all-rounder Stuart Broad whose unorthodox attempts to hit the ball while standing behind the square leg umpire have been a constant reminder of how far the team has come.

media_camera The sign says it all.

“Stuart learned to play cricket at an English public school,’’ said Moores.

“To make it from that sort of disadvantaged background to the game’s biggest stage is quite incredible. I mean, the pudding throwers at Big School just don’t prepare you for this level of competition.’’

Morgan, handed the England captaincy after failing to make the strong Ireland line-up, is another cult figure.

“We hoped that coming from a bigger cricketing nation like Ireland, Eoin’s influence would rub off on the team,’’ said the ECB’s managing director Paul Downton.

“And that certainly has been the case.’’

There has been some controversy about the ethnic mix of the England team.

“There is no doubt we are a bit top heavy with Englishmen,’’ admitted Downton.

“But we’ve got someone on a plane to Johannesburg as we speak.’’

England is also handicapped by a lucrative contract system that means its lavishly paid players can train full-time.

“We’d love to have part-timers who do a shift on the tools before training and play as if their lives depend on it,’’ said Downton.

“But sadly we have to make do with pampered professionals which obviously puts us at a huge disadvantage.’’

After their wonderful performances here the ECB quashed rumours they would reinstate batsman Kevin Pietersen who was excluded from this World Cup because his talent endangered the team’s official minnow status.

“We didn’t say we wanted Kevin Pietersen for the Ashes, we said we wanted Kevin Pietersen’s ashes,’’ the spokesman explained.

“But because he’s no longer on contract we can’t cremate him until he’s actually dead.’’