Sam Curran believes England's historic World Cup triumph can spur their Ashes hopefuls on to greater heights as attention turns towards attempting to regain the urn.
England prevailed in the World Cup final in dramatic circumstances, beating New Zealand on boundary count-back alone after the sides registered identical scores in both their 50 overs and super over at Lord's.
The tournament and the aftermath of England's successful campaign has overshadowed the build-up to the five-Test showdown against Australia, which gets under way on August 1 at Edgbaston.
Curran feels the Ashes remains the pinnacle of the cricketing calendar but insists the Test team can be galvanised by what transpired last weekend, irrespective of whether they featured or not.
The 21-year-old seam bowling all-rounder said: "I don't think I'm alone in saying that it's probably the greatest cricket match ever and for that to be the World Cup final was incredible.
"That will provide a buzz for everyone across English cricket going into the Ashes.
"Days like Sunday get everyone, whether they were involved or not, more excited and desperate to do well so I'm sure it will rub off as we head into the Test part of the summer.
"The Ashes are the biggest thing you can play in as an England cricketer, that's what I've always felt. Hopefully we can be lifting the urn at The Oval in September."
Curran, whose older brother Tom was an unused squad member during the World Cup, has been drafted into England's groups for the one-off Test against Ireland next week and a pre-Ashes training camp.
The left armer was England Lions' standout performer against an Australian XI earlier this week, taking six for 95 and contributing a pair of half-centuries in a drawn first-class match at Canterbury.
Having recently recovered from a hamstring injury, he said: "I've come back and felt good, putting in some decent performances with bat and ball.
"Confidence is really good, it's just trying to contribute as much as I can. Hopefully I'm in the XI on Wednesday and I can put in a performance.
"I've played four four-day games in four weeks, the body has felt good so I'm really excited to get into that. I'll play one T20 for Surrey on Friday then prepare for the summer of Test match cricket. It's really exciting."
Curran enjoyed a breakthrough summer last year, being named player of the Test series against India after star contributions with both bat and ball, leading to a bumper pay day in the Indian Premier League.
However, he is adamant he is not resting on his laurels, adding: "It's a new challenge, a new summer. I can't rely on that, I need to look ahead and find performances that will beat the Australians in the Ashes.
"The team is pretty exciting, there will be some great cricket played. I'm really excited to see what this summer holds."
