PAUL NEWMAN: England have rediscovered their swagger and can go all the way at the T20 World Cup

There was a sort of hangover for England last summer as they came to terms with the sudden retirement of their white ball captain behemoth at Eoin Morgan.

But the new era without a leader in Morgan who would have his swan song here is now off to a good start, says his successor Jos Buttler, if England go into a Twenty20 World Cup they have a fantastic chance of winning.

Certainly, that difficult first summer for Buttler and new coach Matthew Mott, who saw series defeats to India and South Africa, has been replaced by a return of the swagger that saw England conquer the white-ball world under Morgan.

England then had a disappointing T20 summer as they lost to India and South Africa (above)

First came the win in Pakistan, then a convincing win in a series against Australia here that was anything but a warm-up, and finally the return to fitness of a key part of their machine in Liam Livingstone in the final exhibition game against Pakistan.

Only another freak injury in that Brisbane warm-up to one of their key bowlers in Reece Topley has done anything to dampen the optimism of an England side as they head into Saturday’s opener against Afghanistan here with confidence.

“I’ve said it to the players many times, but this is a whole new era for the England whiteball team,” Buttler said ahead of his first world tournament as captain.

‘A lot of them played in the past period, but now it’s about looking ahead for this group. How do we want to play as a team? What do we want to do in the next game and the game after that? And don’t put too much energy into looking back.’

England look back on their best in recent series wins against Pakistan and Australia

The team also welcomed Liam Livingstone back after a recent ankle injury

To that end, England look certain, as Sportsmail reported on Friday, to throw their most attacking team possible into Saturday’s game, with a batting-heavy lineup taking on Afghanistan’s array of spinners led by one of the world’s best in Rashid Khan.

Livingstone, who has an exceptional record against Rashid in the franchise world, is coming back from his own ankle injury and coming in after new batting sensation Harry Brook, who has made a big impression on Coach Mott especially here.

It means England will start a bowler lighter than they originally envisioned, but they still have plenty of options, with David Willey expected to replace Topley and join Mark Wood, Adil Rashid and Sam Curran as the bowling bankers. Not to mention Ben Stokes, who was able to open the bowling, Moeen Ali and Livingstone’s spinning all sorts.

The sight on Friday at Perth Stadium of Chris Woakes undergoing a pre-training fitness test was a concern after his summer was ruined by injury. But Buttler insisted he was fit and it seems England will want to treat him with caution for now.

England dealt a late blow before being ruled out of Reece Topley’s tournament

But the absence of Topley, who is leaving Australia after Saturday’s game to undergo surgery at home for his torn ankle ligaments, is a real blow.

He has overcome the adversity of four stress fractures of his back to become the most versatile member of the white-ball bowling attack and was expected to perform here with the new ball, in the middle overs and at death by the crucial 19th left to bowl.

“It’s been especially hard on Reece himself and we’re all bitterly disappointed for him,” Buttler said. “He’s had so much injury in his career and it’s cruel to get through that and be on the brink of this tournament and then let it take it from him.”

England were supposed to face a familiar face in Graham Thorpe, who became Afghanistan coach after losing his job with England on Saturday. But he has suffered from serious health problems this year and in his place comes another familiar face in Jonathan Trott.

“What happened to Thorpey was sudden and he had been very good to me,” former England batsman Trott told Sportsmail on Friday. “So when this opportunity presented itself, I thought about the times I’ve worked with him and tried to implement his ideas with these guys.

England play with swagger and have a fantastic chance to win the T20 World Cup

‘I’m very excited. England are a top team and one of the favorites for the tournament, but we are playing the first game against them and hopefully we can catch up with them. We are dangerous in our days and can beat anyone. It would be huge to beat England.’

A win in Afghanistan would really put the cat among the pigeons in a Super 12 group that includes Australia and New Zealand and qualifiers in Sri Lanka and Ireland, which continue at the expense of the West Indies after beating them on Friday.

But it shouldn’t happen. England looked formidable in last year’s Twenty20 World Cup before heading to New Zealand in the semi-finals, but they have the ability to do better here. Their time has come to unite the 50-plus and T20 world titles and start that new era with a real bang.