Andy Pakes looks at the emergence of Australia's James Pattinson and compares him to his England-capped brother Darren.
Sam Holloway looks at why test match cricket is not going to become extinct just yet
Manraj Bahra looks at the subtle differences between the forms of cricket and how teams shouldn't look to pick the same players in all forms.
Sports Editor James Tompkinson looks at the continuing problem of corruption within cricket as the cases of three Pakistani cricketers accused of spot fixing comes to an end
To win any game of cricket by ten wickets is an achievement, but the Sri Lankans always looked in control and proved to be too good for a very jaded England side that simply was out of ideas and energy after a long, gruelling winter of cricket.
England’s World Cup post-mortem will now begin, and not for the first time in recent years, England need to find a way of competing in one day cricket at the highest level.
The issue with England and failing in tournaments such as the World Cup is that we will always value test cricket more than one day international cricket, and this winter has been solid proof of that.
England’s preparation for the Ashes was meticulous, and they went into the series as a fit, focused team with a vendetta to beat Australia in their own back yard. All the work that had been done previously had been leading up to the Ashes series, not the subsequent ODI tournament or the World Cup, and it really did show.
When you look at the teams that have made it to this year's World Cup semi finals - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand - they are all sides who value ODI cricket more than test match cricket. For England, a World Cup will never be the pinnacle of International cricket, and the cricketing calendar will always ensure that the World Cup will follow an Ashes series in Australia, which is where England’s priority will always be placed.
However, England do need to try to move their ODI game forward. This World Cup has exposed major flaws in the England team and these problems need to be rectified so that England can compete in the ODI arena against India and Sri Lanka in the upcoming summer.
It would seem as though this World Cup will mark the end of Andrew Strauss as England’s ODI captain, so the first step will be finding someone to replace him. Alistair Cook would be an obvious choice as he has already been earmarked to replace Strauss as test captain in the future, but the problem is that Cook is currently frozen out of the ODI set up.
Now, I personally think that Cook is more than capable of playing in England’s ODI team, but it would be a massive ask to bring him back into the set up as captain. If England went with Cook as ODI captain then it would be another sign that England are much more bothered about their test match team than their ODI team.
Perhaps the only reason as to why Cook has emerged as the favourite to replace Strauss as ODI captain is that there isn’t another viable alternative. Former captain Michael Vaughan has led the calls for Stuart Broad to be given the job and I personally think that this would be a good move on the part of the England selectors. Whether Broad’s apparent lack of temperament will count against him remains to be seen, but Vaughan argues that it is Broad’s fire and desire to win every game that would make him a good ODI captain.
Two other names I would consider would be England’s two best ODI players are Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan. I am a big fan of both Trott and Morgan and I think that both would cope well with the added responsibility of being England’s ODI captain.
The England players will now go home for a well deserved break with their families whilst the World Cup draws to a conclusion in the subcontinent. Sri Lanka will face New Zealand and India will play Pakistan in the semi finals. My prediction? I’m going for an India vs Sri Lanka final and then I think that Sri Lanka could upset the odds and end up as the eventual tournament winners.
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