Former captain Michael Vaughan has warned Eoin Morgan and his England team that batting collapses like the one during the second ODI in Barbados can prove harmful to their ambition of winning this year's ICC Cricket World Cup at home.
Visitors were on their way to chase down West Indies' 289-run target and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Before they lost their last six wickets for just 35 runs to eventually give away a series-levelling victory to the hosts. The third ODI in Grenada got washed out on Monday (February 25).
"England have got everything required to win the World Cup except for these moments of madness," said Vaughan on the BBC radio. "It happens every four or five games and if it happens in the semi-final then they are out. If you're out there in the middle - win the game, don't leave it to anyone else, don't get bored of doing what you're doing well. This England team has been great. They have trained the brain get 330. It has been lovely to watch."
"But it may be that they get to a semi-final and 270 would be enough and if you go for 330 to 350 then you might only get 210. You don't win a World Cup by just whacking it. You have to play smart cricket. The India side around the time they won the 2011 World Cup didn't have the day England had in Barbados on Friday."
"The Australia side that won in 2015 lost the odd game but they didn't have moments like England do on a consistent basis. It's not a [whole] game, it's almost just a period of the game - in that Champions Trophy semi-final against Pakistan, it was just 10 or so overs where England lost four quick wickets and the game was over. That's my concern for them in the World Cup."
England needs to blend mental flexibility with its attacking approach with the bat, according to Vaughan, who further stressed how important it is for the three lions to fine-tune their games under pressure.
"England do get bored if they're not whacking it - if they have not struck a boundary in 10 balls they think, 'I have got to hit one'," he added. "It is the only thing I look at the team and worry about - if they are under big pressure in a one-off game and the ball is doing a bit and they go gung-ho."
"If they continue to play in that fashion they will have games where they completely dominate. But they also have that one game, where I still have a bit of doubt that they might not be smart enough to see themselves through a 20-over period when a bit of old-school cricket might be required."
