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England opening batsman Andrew Strauss believes his team have the potential to win next month’s International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy in India.

England are currently ranked eighth in the One-day International (ODI) rankings and are least expected to lift the trophy.

But Strauss, in an interview on Sunday, said: “We’ve always said that on our day we can beat any side in the world. We have got match-winning players and with a bit of confidence in our ranks there’s no reason why we can’t do well but we will have to play our best.”

England welcome back from injury talismanic captain Andrew Flintoff, James Anderson and Steve Harmison to swell their ranks. And two wins in the ODI home series against Pakistan have given England, the 2004 finalists, a much-needed confidence boost.

“I hope these couple of wins (against Pakistan) here have given us a little bit more confidence going into that tournament and if we continue doing that there’s no reason why we can’t do pretty well in that,” said Strauss who led England to a successful home Test series against Pakistan.

“We’re going to have to play at our best and that’s something we haven’t done well enough over the last 12 months — now is the time for us to really start doing that,” he added.

Source:The News