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Brian Lara has picked England as the firm favourites to win next month's ICC Champions Trophy which they host. The batting great said England have unearthed some exciting players since losing the World T20 final to West Indies last year. The hosts play Bangladesh in the inaugural match on June 1.

In an interview today, Mike Hussey predicted that arch-rivals England and Australia will fight it out for the 2017 Champions Trophy title in the finals of the tournament scheduled to be held on June 18th. The two sides are placed in Group A and are first scheduled to clash on June 10 at Edgbaston.

Ben Stokes has responded to Kevin Pietersen's beer jibe by posting a video of the English team training in Spain on Instagram. Pietersen had tweeted his disappointment over ECB's decision to recall Stokes and Jos Buttler before the playoffs of the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

Just a day after Kevin Pietersen slammed the ECB for pulling out their players from the IPL, Ricky Ponting has given a completely contrary view, asking for the country to be put ahead of the IPL. The English players have already departed, albeit late, to fulfill their international commitments.