England did have a batting collapse that has led them to lose the final ODI against SA at the Oval but their overall great performance has led them to win the series. Whether Morgan scoring runs or Woakes taking wickets or Wood clinching victory in the 2nd ODI thriller has all happened.

When Andre Strauss was appointed as director of England in 2015, he said that main concern for England would be the limited overs in future and the team and management should work well on that. This was because of the horrendous after that England did suffer in the World Cup 2015 that we are all aware of!

When the other teams in the World Cup had come up with scintillating performances and an aggressive attitude, England looked a bit doomed which became the talk of the cricket world.

England had a new captain and also their approach to the game changed but it came in a bad way for them, as they won only 2 out of 6 games. They won only against Scotland and Afghanistan.

Not a great surprise, as England has always stumbled in ICC events and never have ever clinched a trophy either at World Cup or Champions Trophy. Reason being their approach or their tactics, poor performance or rather all three together.

They did reach the final of the home Champions Trophy in 2013, losing to India, but that has been the extent of their recent success although they have fared better in the World T20, winning it in 2010 and reaching last year’s final.

The limited overs game have always haunted them. Strauss’ appointment certainly changed their mindset. England is now one of the favourites for the Champions Trophy. Their success against Aussies and Blackcaps is commendable. England has broken records, developed an ultra-aggressive style which has entertained and led to a series win against the ICC number one ranked team, South Africa.

“I think we are up there with the other better teams in the world,” Strauss told during the final ODI at Lord’s. “It’s almost pointless ranking who is the best because we can beat any team on our day and we’ve seen that quite consistently over the last 18 months or so. I don’t think we are the finished product. By and large, our batting has been really strong and our bowling needs a bit of work still, but we head into this Champions Trophy full of confidence.You only get that confidence by winning often and by winning important matches and important series and we’ve done that and we have the advantage of home conditions as well, so it’s an exciting team but the Champions Trophy as it means you’ve got to win every game and any team is capable of beating any other team.”Strauss also said that it was the whole mindset that has led them to change their game and come back even stronger.

“Number one is a mindset, a different way of doing it, a different approach completely, different selections. Let’s throw all that baggage off that’s accumulated over 20 plus years and don’t fear to do things differently. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter because the other way hasn’t worked either.That mindset of being aggressive, being positive, trying to put the opposition under pressure but accepting that it might not work over time. If you back guys that do that naturally and who have that attacking intent as their natural game, then if they are good enough they will come through.” England said.England’s growing standing in one-day cricket was proven by the sums paid for the likes of Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills and Chris Woakes in this year’s IPL auction.

England will face their first game against Bangladesh on 1st June as the tournament kick-starts on Thursday.