Alastair Cook has said that England's recent series against New Zealand has given the team a "feel-good factor" ahead of The Ashes.
The five-match series against Australia gets underway on July 8, when England will be looking to regain the urn after suffering a whitewash in Australia last time out.
The captain told Sky Sports News: "In England we've got some fantastically talented players and some brilliant young players coming through, as well as some slightly older guys who have been there and done it as well, so we've got a really good squad of players now.
"There's a real feel-good factor about English cricket at the moment, one that we haven't had for 15 or so months. I think it started in the Test matches, if we're being honest, when we were 30-4 and it was all doom and gloom in that first morning at Lords [against New Zealand].
"But then the way Joe Root and Ben Stokes played, to be 30-4 and then to go counter-attack and score nearly 170, just under six runs an over, which was a very un-English thing to do, and I think everyone looked round and saw that and thought what great positive and aggressive cricket."
England drew their Test series against New Zealand 1-1.
Sian Cowper
