Major upset needed for England to progress

By SIMON HAYDON

CRICKET: BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, April 14 - England talks a good game of cricket. Not many of its fans are listening any more.

After the team eked out a four-wicket victory over Bangladesh on Wednesday, very few of the thousands of English supporters in the Caribbean left the ground with much confidence that their team can reach the last four of the World Cup.

England players say they are among the best in the world and are genuine title contenders here.

On the evidence of performances so far, England can beat the teams that stand no chance of advancing. But they lose to the big teams, those that have to be beaten to gain a place at the sport's top table.

In the Caribbean, England has beaten Ireland, Bangladesh, Kenya and Canada while losing to New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia.

The victory over Bangladesh on Wednesday was a case in point.

England bowled well, bowled like a top team. In the face of accurate but unthreatening spin, Michael Vaughan's players panicked and got themselves out.

Shots were played that should not have been, by England's top batsmen, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss and Vaughan himself.

Vaughan top-scored for England with 30 as England limped to 147 for six in reply to 143 all out. But his form throughout the competition inspired one wag in the crowd to hold a banner proclaiming, "Vaughan, lend us your bat for our beach cricket game. You're not using it!"

Vaughan confessed after the match that his side's batting is a concern. But he promised that South Africa, the next opponent, on Thuesday will only be given a tough match if his team manages "to play at 85 or 90 percent." England's biggest problem at the World Cup has been that batters are making starts but then getting themselves out in the 20s and 30s. Vaughan is clearly frustrated that players are getting themselves out rather than being the victim of good bowling.

"We should have chased down the target more comfortably than we did, but those three (Bangladesh) spinners are a hard option," he said.

You can see why thy're winning games here at the World Cup. "I always felt we were going to get over the line although it would have been nice to have won by eight wickets."

Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher have a number of problems. With Ed Joyce not performing well, Strauss has been slotted back into the team, meaning the team has three openers in the top three positions.

Ian Bell is inconsistent. After a handsome 47 against Australia, he went after a loose ball on Wednesday that was best left alone.

Vaughan, a technically gifted and elegant batsman, is still miles from the form he showed three years ago for England, before a series of injuries sidelined him.

Kevin Pietersen is the top one-day batsman in the world and the only England player to score a century at the World Cup while his fellow big hitter Andrew Flintoff, reprimanded after a drunken incident in St. Lucia, does not look to be enjoying himself.

Paul Collingwood and Paul Nixon, on the other hand, have so far done everything that has been asked of them and more, including seeing England home to victory on Wednesday.

AP