England will go into the Champions Trophy on home soil with their two big-money Indian Premier League stars at the forefront of their one-day international resurgence.
Since England embarrassingly exited the 2015 World Cup at the group stage , captain Eoin Morgan has revolutionised their approach with the help of several key players.
Chief among those are all-rounders Ben Stokes - who fetched a record IPL auction fee for an overseas player of £1.7million when signed by Rising Pune Supergiant in February - and Chris Woakes, the Kolkata Knight Riders' £500,000 signing.
England's batting, in particular, has gone up several levels - of their 10 totals of 350 or more in the 50-over format, eight have come since their elimination in Australia and New Zealand two years ago.
Stokes' average has leapt from 15.66 in his appearances up to and including the World Cup to 41.84 since - an increase of 167 per cent, the highest in the squad. The 43 per cent boost in his strike rate, meanwhile, is bettered only by lower-order hitter Liam Plunkett - whose last 50-over appearance prior to the World Cup came back in 2011, before the format as a whole witnessed a batting renaissance.
Looking at figures from March 14, 2015 onwards - the day after England's World Cup exit - Alex Hales has more than doubled his average, from 21.11 to a post-World Cup 42.29, while Joe Root has increased his by 50 per cent to 60.06.
Morgan, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow also average over 40 in that time, though Jason Roy's average has dipped to 36.10 after the Surrey opener scored just 33 runs across five innings in England's Champions Trophy warm-up games against South Africa and Ireland.
Buttler, the scorer of England's three fastest centuries, and Morgan have added more than 30 per cent to their batting averages - as has all-rounder Adil Rashid, though he played only five matches before the end of the World Cup to render comparisons all but redundant.
Bairstow has staked a strong claim for a regular place in the line-up with three half-centuries in his last four innings and, since the World Cup, has lifted his average by almost 85 per cent and his strike rate by 22 per cent.
Woakes, despite batting no higher than seven and usually at eight, is averaging 36.36 with a strike rate of 98.03 since the World Cup, contrasted with 19.04 and 77.97 beforehand.
He has also improved both his bowling average and economy rate - Plunkett and part-time spinner Joe Root are the only other players to improve in all four categories.
Stokes is not far behind - his bowling average has slipped slightly, from 35.65 to 39.14, though his economy rate has crept fractionally below six an over.
Moeen Ali's unbeaten 77 in the first of the three-match series against South Africa was a welcome return to form but he remains the odd man out in England's batting line-up, with his average declining by 34 per cent since the World Cup.
The off-spinner's bowling average has suffered a similar regression, with his economy rate also worsening but still a relatively healthy 5.24 runs per over - bettered only by Woakes in the time since the World Cup.
Paceman Steven Finn's bowling record has also taken a step back, while Chris Jordan's decline was so sudden and dramatic he has long since fallen out of contention and is not in the Champions Trophy squad.
Source: PA
