Shambolic England must learn World Cup lesson

Nasser Hussain believes England must learn from their "shambolic" past World Cup failings to be competitive in next year's tournament in South Africa.

Speaking at a news conference at Heathrow Airport before his 15-man one-day squad departed for India on Thursday, the England captain said: "Sides that have done well in World Cups have had a plan.

"They know what each player's role in that side is and they stick to it. We have not achieved this and, with the World Cup only a year away, we must start putting that right. We must be pro-active rather than re-active."

He said England had suffered from "shambolic planning" in the last two tournaments.

England play six one-day internationals in India, where they lost 1-0 in the recent three-Test series. They then play one-day and Test series in New Zealand in February and March.

Hussain said England, who lost 11 successive one-day games before destroying hapless Zimbabwe 5-0 last year, needed to show faith in their players over the next 12 months, hence the retention of youngsters like Matthew Hoggard, James Foster and Richard Dawson who all impressed in India last month.

"Duncan (Fletcher) and I are trying to build a youthful, good-fielding, energetic one-day side," added Hussain.

"This will be the nucleus because we haven't got enough cricket to start messing around. The best sides going into the World Cup in previous years have had settled sides.

"We must continue the sort of mentality and team spirit and bonding that this group of lads created in Zimbabwe. Everyone who was out there saw the work ethic we put into nets, training and fielding. Everything gels together when you are winning.

"You can't experiment that much."

Looking ahead to India, Hussain said it was important for England to gain a "psychological hold" over a team they will meet in the group stages of the World Cup.

"It will be important not to be overawed by the occasion. There will be big crowds and it's important that we take early wickets, especially with Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly being even more prolific in the one-day arena.

"We will be looking to compete and get a psychological hold."

The series starts on January 19 in Calcutta, followed by games in Cuttack, Madras, Kanpur, New Delhi and Bombay.

Mail Cricket Editor