Paul Collingwood believes England winning the World Cup would create the kind of fervour to equal last year's Ashes success.
With the event in the Caribbean only five months away, England need to continue the form in which they closed the summer rather than return to the horrendous stretch of results which preceded it.
Consecutive wins over Pakistan - and indeed the general manner in which the hosts played in the one-day series drawn 2-2 - has left the 14-man squad keen to make an impact at this month's Champions' Trophy in India.
It is a tournament over-shadowed by the imminent Ashes defence in Australia but it will be crucial in the development of one-day tactics for the World Cup.
"The World Cup is a dream for us and we want to go there believing we can win it," all-rounder Collingwood said. "I am not suggesting people jump on the bandwagon but if we won the World Cup I think it would be as big as what the Ashes was."
England have only four one-day wins out of 21 completed matches, including a 5-0 whitewash by Sri Lanka, prior to wins over the Pakistanis last month.
However, Collingwood suggests the wins over Pakistan, paired with the return of captain Andrew Flintoff, will prove a major significance.
"One-day cricket is literally a confidence game," he said. "When you are in a bad run it is hard to go out there with no fear of failure, it tends to drag you down a bit. But those wins have helped us turn a little bit of a corner. At 2-0 down we showed a lot of character more than anything else to try to get it back.
"That has made us feel better about ourselves because we had been through a tough time in the one-dayers and lost a bit of our confidence during the Sri Lanka series when we were battered about a bit.
"People always question whether we are good enough to win the World Cup but if you ask any side who we come up against they will tell you we have the players [2014] Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Trescothick, Flintoff match-winners."
England are eighth in the world rankings and progressing beyond the group stage of the Champions' Trophy would cancel a return home prior to flying to Australia for a three-month tour; a fort-night's rest is available between the trip and the World Cup. Collingwood said: "If we do well in this tournament it can do us a lot of good going to Australia. It will give us momentum and momentum is a massive thing."
England had their first fitness session yesterday. Fast bowlers Steve Harmison and James Anderson did not take part, however, after reporting ill overnight.
