James Anderson has leapt to the defence of England teammate Eoin Morgan, claiming that recent comments made by Geoffrey Boycott are well wide of the mark.

The former England opener accused Morgan of failing to impress against the world's best bowlers, suggesting that the one-day captain is not as good as he personally thinks he is.

Despite the 28-year-old struggling for form heading into the World Cup, going into the showpiece tournament with just two runs scored in his past four innings, Anderson has backed his friend to replicate his recent century against Australia when the two sides meet this weekend.

"Morgs is a world-class player and has been for however many games he's played," he is quoted as saying by The Independent. "He's been great for us and we're just hopeful he can get some form because we've seen how destructive he can be when he's in form.

"We've seen him get a hundred already on this trip against Australia so hopefully he can regain that form going into the World Cup when it matters."

England take on Australia at the MCG on Saturday in their opening game of the World Cup.