England one-day form a toss-up

Many fans at Headingley could be forgiven for leaving the ground if Michael Vaughan loses the toss and is made to bat first by Lara.

Many fans at a sold-out Headingley could be forgiven for leaving the ground if England captain Michael Vaughan loses the toss and is made to bat first by West Indies skipper Brian Lara in Thursday's day and night One-Day International on Thursday.

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For since Vaughan took over the captaincy 20 matches ago, England (excluding no-result washouts) have lost every One-Day International in which they batted first and won each time they have chased.

England's inability to set a target has cost them dear so far in the NatWest Series. On Sunday they were bowled out for a paltry 147 by the West Indies in a seven-wicket defeat at Trent Bridge.

They then 'surpassed' that mark on Tuesday by being dismissed for 101, their sixth lowest one-day international score, against New Zealand at the Riverside.

Another seven-wicket defeat left England firmly rooted to the bottom of the table in this triangular tournament and with only a slim chance of qualifying for the July 10 final at Lord's.

All too often it has been a case of boundaries or bust from the top order with precious little in between.

For Vaughan who has seen England become a growing force in Test cricket following series wins this year away to the West Indies and at home against New Zealand, their one-day form has become a frustration.

And he knows that a major improvement is required if England are to prevent an early exit from the ICC Champions Trophy one-day event which they host in September.

Vaughan, who will be playing on his Yorkshire home ground Thursday, admitted after the Riverside reverse: "It's not good enough ... we aren't batting well enough as a unit to give our bowlerenough chance to win a game of cricket when we are batting first."

West Indies captain Brian Lara gave England an indication of the way ahead Wednesday by saying how he had stressed the importance of crease occupation in English conditions to his fledgling side.

"It is not the Caribbean or the subcontinent where even after scoring 300 you are scared of the opposition still.

"It all depends on how you do in your early overs. England have not allowed themselves the opportunity to use that and we are not going to make the same mistakes," Lara added.

England, since last year's World Cup, have seen the experienced middle-order trio of Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe all retire from one-day cricket even though Thorpe, unlike the other two, is still a Test player.

England are without injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (ankle) for this series and the absence of the hard-hitting batsman has clearly hurt the side.

Now it appears all opposing teams have to do is dismiss experienced openers Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick before exposing what New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has labelled a "soft underbelly" of a middle-order.

England coach Duncan Fletcher told his top order Wednesday to change their approach.

"Cricket is a game where you have to think on your feet and that means getting out there and after two or three overs having a look at things and realising it is not a 250 wicket and 180 can be quite a competitive score and 200 is a good score."

The likes of Paul Collingwood, Rikki Clarke, Anthony McGrath and Ian Blackwell have all been given a chance to show what they can do.

But while the quartet are classed as one-day all-rounders they have rarely shone with either bat or ball.

That contrasts sharply with the form of South African all-rounder Andrew Hall or Australia's Andy Bichel and Ian Harvey.

"We have to find all-rounders," Fletcher insisted. "People talk about bits-and-pieces players, but all these all-rounders in Australia and South Africa started out as bits-and-pieces players and they are now quality all-rounders and that's what often happens."

But how patient England's selectors are remains to be seen.