5 reasons why England can win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy

#1 Point to prove

The English cricket team in a training session

Eoin Morgan’s men will not have to look around much for reasons to motivate themselves ahead of the big event, for there are plenty from their performances in recent ICC tournaments. England got their best shot at winning a major ICC tournament in the 2013 Champions Trophy. In a rain-curtailed game, England were chasing 130 in 20 overs but bottled it to end up losing by a mere 5 runs.

The following major ICC event was the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, where England failed to progress into the knockouts and even slumped to defeat against the Netherlands. The team reached new lows when they bowed out of the 2015 ODI World Cup in the group stage of the tournament as Bangladesh handed them an embarrassing defeat and progressed ahead of them into the quarterfinals.

Post the 2015 World Cup, the 2016 World T20 in India was the first major assignment of a rebuilt England limited overs side. Having progressed to the finals, they once again fell second-best in the dying moments of the game as Carlos Brathwaite struck four consecutive sixes to overcome a tough ask of 19 runs in the final over of the innings.

With the next 50-over World Cup to be held in England in 2019 and preparations already in motion towards it, England will look forward to break the jinx and make a resounding statement to the world in the first major ICC ODI tournament since their 2015 debacle.