England down but not out ... yet ...

England's poor performance yesterday in St. Lucia, defeated by 6 wickets against New Zealand, sounds the death knell on their chances for the world cup.

While England can still go through to the Super Eights round, they have to meet the challenges of Canada tomorrow and more worryingly Kenya next Saturday to stay in the competition.

However we love an underdog, and Vaughan' band of merry men have been known to pull rabbits from hats before.

When coupled with their lackluster performance against Australia in the last of the warm up matches, England look to have lost any momentum they might have carried forward from the recent one day series in February.

Is it time to go watch the rugby instead?
Not quite yet......
Sunday 18th - Canada v England
Saturday 24th - England v Kenya

England off to a promising start?

Well what can I say ?.... A convincing win for England against Bermuda if you look at the final score, but with a typical England wobble in the middle. If anything the match said more about Bermuda's bowling than England's batting with most of the Bermudan credit going to to Dwayne Leverock.

It may be unfair to make too harsh a judgement on England - it was a practice match and captain Michael Vaughan used it wisely to give everyone a turn.

Possibly the more interesting news is Bangladesh's 2 wicket win over New Zealand yesterday. If this indicates a poorly performing New Zealand team then England's chances in the Group C round are definitely looking up. The next indicator to watch for the NZ team performance will be their upcoming match on Friday against Sri Lanka.

Fleming, the NZ captain, told Reuters. "We just didn't play well. It gives us some headaches and I suppose you can say it's a wake-up call before the tournament starts."

Warm-ups for the Group C teams to watch:-
Thursday 8th - Canada v Ireland
Thursday 8th - Kenya v Netherlands
Friday 9th - New Zealand v Sri Lanka
Friday 9th - Australia v England

World Cup getting under way ...

Too many reporters on the radio this morning saying "nice to be here in the sun" ... and I have to compose this report from a rainy London office.

However, the world Cup is about to get under way with the opening warm up matches starting this evening, what are the prospects for an England victory?

Do we believe "Rain No Play" when they suggest "England heads into the World Cup as one of the hottest teams, enjoying a 4 match winning streak."

England should be reasonably well placed to win the initial group round - opponents in Group C are Kenya, Canada and New Zealand. Kenya and Canada should pose no real problem, New Zealand can be expected to put up a fight but England have the recent experience of beating them in the Commonwealth Bank Series to fall back on.

Tonight's warm up should tell us if England are still on the boil or if they have once again relaxed and gone to sleep in 'dat Caribbean sun.

Australia have to be the side to fear in the long run, even if England did beat them last month, but no one can ignore the likes of India, Pakistan, South Africa or Sri Lanka all of whome could show well.

Let battle commence !

England Squad:
M Vaughan (captain), A Strauss, M Loye, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, I Bell, P Collingwood, E Joyce, J Dalrymple, P Nixon (wkt), J Anderson, C Tremlett, M Panesar, J Lewis, L Plunkett.

Coach: Duncan Fletcher

England Group C Matches:
Fri March 16 - New Zealand
Sun March 18 - Canada
Sat March 24 - Kenya