Paul Collingwood feels that although England has not played enough T20 cricket, the hosts have match winners in the squad to help England win the ICC World Twenty20 2009.England's participation in major sporting tournaments usually follows a predictable pattern of inflated expectation followed by a chastening early exit.
It hasn't been involved at the business end of a World Cup since 1992, when it lost to Pakistan in the 50-over final.
But England's summer has started encouragingly, beating West Indies 2-0 in both a test and one-day series.
"Looking at the squad that we've got, we've certainly got a lot of match-winners in there," captain Paul Collingwood said. "It's hopefully a case of going out there and backing yourself and having that belief and going out there and doing the job."
Coach Andy Flower too, sounded confident and said Collingwood has improved a lot.
"He's a different cricketer to the last time he captained," Flower said. "He's certainly in much better form this time. I don't think a new captain will disturb things, but I also don't think it's ideal either. In an ideal world, you'd have one captain across all formats.
"But I think he is really looking forward to it and looking forward to the challenge."
Collingwood will have to do without one potential match-winner in Andrew Flintoff, who has failed to recover from a knee injury from the Indian Premier League. His replacement, Adil Rashid, has featured only intermittently for county side Yorkshire this season.
When England last hosted a World Cup, the 50-over version in 1999, its preparations were similarly muddled. A 40-man preliminary squad full of one-day specialists was selected, but Nick Knight, then one of the world's best batsmen, was ejected and test players like Angus Fraser and Alan Mullally were recalled.
England was subsequently eliminated in the group stages, though it will be difficult for Collingwood's side to repeat that feat this time around.
England only needs to beat the Netherlands on Friday to reach the Super 8s, and there is evidence that it can make a better challenge than it did in the inaugural tournament in South Africa in 2007, when the only side it could beat was Zimbabwe.
"We haven't played good Twenty20 cricket in the past, but that doesn't mean we can't do well in this competition," Flower said. "We have guys with more Twenty20 experience now and we have the talent and variety of player necessary."
Some of that experience came in the IPL, where Ravi Bopara honed his form before scoring centuries in both tests against West Indies, and where Collingwood says he enjoyed the experience despite not playing a single match.
"It's been excellent to be involved in the IPL," Collingwood said. "I wish a lot of the bowlers had the opportunity to go over there. Although I wasn't playing, I still felt I learnt a hell of a lot going over there.
"I spoke to Ravi on the plane on the way back. It's just a lot of fun playing in that kind of tournament. It's amazing how quick you learn from the strategies, the kind of tactics they use and really the preparation that each individual player uses."
