Erratic England deserve elimination

It is not in England's nature to do it the easy way.

But even by their standards, this World Cup campaign has been something else.

Friday's two-wicket defeat to hosts Bangladesh was simply embarrassing, with tail-enders Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam crashing the ball to all parts with consummate ease.

England may well still qualify for the quarter-finals, but surely have no realistic chances of winning the competition after losses to lowly Ireland and now Bangladesh.

All five games could and perhaps should have been won, but their erraticism has cost them dear when it really counts.

James Anderson is a fantastic Test bowler, but his days in the one-day game are numbered.

He started out as a brilliant one-day bowler, and fought his way into the Test side with his one-day form.

But his performances in this World Cup have summed up England. Five wides here, full toss there and suddenly the game gets away from them.

With 58 runs left to win and just two wickets in hand, Bangladesh should have had no chance.

But it was England who ran out of ideas. The inept Anderson and part-timers Collingwood and Bopara never looked like taking a wicket in the closing stages, and made the end of the home side's run chase look easy.

Despite the inefficiencies with the ball, the batsmen must shoulder a lot of the blame too.

Despite Mr Consistent Jonathan Trott and the returning Eoin Morgan both hitting half-centuries, a number of loose shots cost England dear.

Ian Bell's shot for his dismissal summed it up. He just looped it up in the air and left the fielder with a simple chance, straight into his hands.

Yes, England are missing Kevin Pietersen's power at the top of the order.

And yes, they are missing Stuart Broad's talent with the ball.

But in many ways this performance was no real different to how England played with those players in this tournament.

Good batting displays against Holland, India and Ireland were met with poor ones against South Africa and Bangladesh.

And when the side have bowled well for large periods, against South Africa and Bangladesh, the batting let them down.

Trott is doing a fine job at number three but should really have been an opener for this game.

Matt Prior is completely bogged down when opening, he is a much better finisher and surely the selectors should have realised that by now.

His dismissal in this game was a joke, wandering out of his crease to the spinner, not even bothering to put his bat back down and giving the wicketkeeper an age to remove the stump.

Opening the innings would give Trott the chance to do what he does best, go along at his own pace and guarantee a decent total.

I was also shocked by the behaviour of Graeme Swann towards the umpire.

Dissent towards officials is simply not accepted in cricket, and at times Swann looked like a schoolboy when protesting decisions.

Swearing, stamping his feet, snatching his cap away from the umpire, he deserves any punishment coming his way.

And so do England. Always the bridesmaids, never the bride, it looks like they may fall at the first hurdle this time.

Their games have been exciting, nail-biting and dramatic but all that will count for nothing if they don't qualify from the group.

Just a few months ago England seemed to be going in the right direction in all forms of the game, but all that seems to have crumbled now.

Only the talents of Trott, Morgan, Shahzad and Swann seem to offer any hope.

They may still qualify, with Bangladesh probably needing to beat South Africa to deny them, but Bangladesh seem to want it more and their passion surely warrants a quarter-final place.