Can England's new players help them win the World Twenty20 in 2010?

It might have been 35 years in the making, but some will argue that only made England's triumph in the World Twenty20 in the West Indies on Sunday all the sweeter. Their first ICC title, after failure in 19 competitions and four finals, prompted jubilant celebrations from the players, staff and those supporters lucky enough to have lapped up England's demolition of Australia from the stands in Barbados. But it is a remarkable turnaround for a country that invented the short form of the game in 2003, but has been little more than also-rans at international level in previous years.

In the previous two World Twenty20s, England have never progressed past the Super Eights stage, and only last year they lost five of the eight completed Twenty20 games they played. So... where did it all go right? First and foremost, credit has to go to the selectors for abandoning a long-standing and frustrating tradition of relying on the tried-and-tested, "safe" options in an England XI, and opting instead for players rich in ambition, aggression and intent.

Left-field selections such as Michael Lumb, Craig Kieswetter and Michael Yardy - and even the decision to leave star Test bowler James Anderson on the sidelines - proved inspired. The only time England changed their XI through the entire tournament was when Ravi Bopara replaced Kevin Pietersen against New Zealand - and England won that match as well. "People forget our selectors have done a good job," Geoffrey Boycott told BBC Sport.

"They've looked around the counties, they've brought in people like Kieswetter, Lumb, Tim Bresnan and Yardy, and they've excelled. "You can't play as a team unless the selectors pick the right players. The most notable difference, was in the batting.

Having endured years of nudgers and nurdlers, England bit the bullet and turned to players who, while potentially more erratic, were willing and able to smash the ball out of the park. Lumb and Kieswetter were the tournament's stand-out opening pair, time and again providing a platform for the side with a confident and often brutal approach to the opening six-over powerplay. Kevin Pietersen, coming in at three, was named player of the tournament thanks to an average of 62 in six innings, at a strike rate of 137.77, while Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright displayed their explosive power in innings-turning stands against West Indies and New Zealand.

Even captain Paul Collingwood, who might not have had the best tournament with the bat, and Bresnan, at seven, shared 10 crucial boundaries between them. In fact, of those who batted for England, not one - with the exception of Bopara in his single match against New Zealand - had a strike rate of less than 100. As Collingwood, a veteran of 176 one-day internationa "This is certainly the most powerful England side I've played in.

As Pakistan might have admitted after their semi-final defeat by Australia, though, it is no good dominating with the bat if you can't back it up with the ball. And England's bowling unit shone. It is telling that, of the 108.2 overs England bowled in the tournament, 106.2 were delivered by the same five players.

Well-laid plans were executed every match. Bresnan and Sidebottom opened up and more often than not bagged early wickets; Stuart Broad, as first change, provided a one-man show on a paceman's variations - bouncers, yorkers, slower balls, leg-cutters, off-cutters, length. The twin spin attack of Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy suffocated and frustrated the opposition in the middle overs, before Sidebottom, Broad and/or Bresnan saw the job home through the crucial final overs.

Swann, also the most frugal of England's bowlers, and Sidebottom led the way in terms of wickets with 10 apiece, while Broad bagged eight. But from the Super Eights onwards, every bowler put his hand up at one time or another. Yardy's 2-19 off four overs strangled Pakistan, Swann and Sidebottom shared six wickets against South Africa, Bresnan yielded just 20 runs off his four overs against New Zealand and Broad's 2-21 put paid to Sri Lanka's hopes in the semi-finals.

Even Wright, in his solitary over for the tournament in the final against Australia, went for just five and took the crucial wicket of big-hitter Cameron White. The bowling unit, though, must also doff their caps to England's fielding efforts - marked as the best in the tournament alongside Australia. England barely dropped a thing.

Stuart Broad's spill of David Hussey in the final aside (and even then he made up for it with a spectacular take to dismiss White in the next over), England's hands were safer than houses. Pietersen's run and jump to dismiss Umar Akmal in the Super Eight stages was a cracker, Broad's pouch on the boundary while keeping his legs inside the rope to send New Zealand's Aaron Redmond packing was smart, while Collingwood and Kieswetter both took beauties in the final. Michael Lumb's run-out of David Warner in the final also reflected an increased athleticism that helped them pressurise and restrict opposition teams.

"The athleticism of our fielding throughout the tournament was exceptionally good because at times we've been a bit ponderous in years past," noted Boycott. Paul Collingwood's role as captain has undoubtedly been crucial.