Cricket World Cup : Lloyd heaps blame upon limp batting

UP ON the podium, as the grey, grave faces of English cricket prepared to deliver their verdict, there was no perking up the mood. It was hard to find the words to describe the disappointment, though Alec Stewart, the England captain, simply said: "You sit here now and you are gutted."

Then the others chipped in with some of their own. To David Lloyd, the retiring coach, the atmosphere in the dressing- room was "sombre, desolate". England's elimination, added David Graveney, chairman of selectors, was "heartbreaking".

It was left to Lloyd, for whom circumstance had turned this into his last day in the job, to be most forthright. "We needed to stand up and be counted but we weren't tough enough," Lloyd said. "This was a situation where we needed to get hold of the game by the scruff of the neck but we did not do it."

There was emotion in Stewart's voice, a sense of overwhelming anticlimax after all his hopes had been dashed and the knowledge, too, that his tenure may be soon to close. Lloyd's tone was coloured more by dismay, by the shattering realisation that the spirit of personal pride and nationalistic endeavour he had tried to instil in England's players had apparently failed to penetrate.

"I don't believe in pressure," he said. "It was nothing to do with Zimbabwe or South Africa or any extra pressure on us. We needed to perform regardless of that but when it really mattered we were found wanting."

In that category he placed the match against South Africa, too, when England, chasing 226, were bowled out for 103, although from that assessment, he excluded the bowlers.

"I'd like to pay tribute to some players, to Alan Mullally, Darren Gough, Mark Ealham and Angus Fraser. The bowlers bowled well and the fielding was excellent. But if you have aspirations to win World Cups then you have to bat well against the best sides and we fell well short. We have not been up to chasing totals against the better teams. Is it down to ability? Is it application? I'd call it nous. But you can talk around it all you like: the players on the field have to do their job and the bottom line is that we were just not good enough."

Lloyd, who had announced before the tournament he would be standing down, has been England coach since 1996, during which time he has seen England through some modest highs and humbling lows. He has not been a resounding success, but for enthusiasm alone deserved to bow out in happier circumstances. He has still, in his position, a number of functions to attend, including a reception at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, but Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, confirmed that Lloyd's cricketing involvement ended with yesterday's defeat.

Stewart echoed much of what Lloyd had said, although with slightly more sympathy for the players. "The conditions made some difference and Nasser [Hussain] getting out just before the rain on Saturday made it more difficult. Then Zimbabwe's win over South Africa added to the pressure because we knew we had to win.

"I don't feel I made the wrong decision in asking India to bat first. The ball seamed about on Saturday because the wicket was damp and I thought we did well to keep them to 230-odd. But the batting let us down. The three games we won we were convincing enough, but in the games we lost the batting let us down. Now we have gone from having one foot in the Super Six when we started this match to being out of the tournament. It is difficult to describe your disappointment, but it feels as bad as it did when we got to the final and lost in 1992."

Typically, Stewart then spoke of "taking it on the chin" and looking ahead to the Test series against New Zealand that follows the World Cup, although whether he continues to lead the England team has yet to be decided. "That's now in the hands of the chairman of selectors," he said, casting an eye in Graveney's direction. "It has been an honour to be captain and I would be happy to stay on."

But there are wider implications to consider as England's first failure to survive the opening stage of any World Cup begins to register. It had been the ECB's profound hope that this so-called "carnival of cricket" would give a fillip to a game in a state of flux, raising its profile particularly among young people.

With England out of the running, even before the tournament has slipped into second gear and with football still dominating the headlines, it will be much more difficult to achieve that goal, although neither Lamb nor Graveney, reading from the same script, would own up to such a negative thought.

"The wider picture might have been better but there are still plenty of role models, plenty of excellent players on view who will hopefully persuade youngsters to pick up a bat and ball," Lamb said. But even he did not seem convinced.

ENGLAND'S RECORD IN WORLD CUPS

1975 IN ENGLAND

Semi-finals (Lost to Australia)

1979 IN ENGLAND

Final (Lost to West Indies)

1983 IN ENGLAND

Semi-finals (Lost to India)

1987 IN INDIA-PAKISTAN

Final (Lost to Australia)

1992 IN AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND

Final (Lost to Pakistan)

1996 IN INDIA-PAKISTAN- SRI LANKA

Quarter-finals (Lost to Sri Lanka)

1999 IN ENGLAND

Group Stages (Did not qualify)