England had to settle for the silver medals after losing to the West Indies in 1979 on home soil in England and again to Australia in 1987-1988 at Calcutta while they were also losing finalists to Pakistan in the 1991-1992 final at Melbourne.

Apart from the West Indies and Australia, who have both won two titles and lost on the other occasion in three finals, no other nation can boast of appearing in three finals.

Hence, the aim of Nasser Hussain’s 2003 squad at the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, will be to win the world’s premier one-day competition for the first time.

Already without injured fast bowler Darren Gough and experienced middle order batsman Graham Thorpe because of family matters, England will need a miraculous all-round performance from their players if they are to be crowned as World champions.

No longer blessed with stand-out cricketers, England, who have pinned their hopes on a handful of budding all-rounders, go into the World Cup with one of the most inexperienced line-ups among the established Test-playing nations.

Apart from veteran wicketkeeper/batsman Alec Stewart, who has played in 163 one-day internationals, no other player in the 15-member squad has appeared in a hundred ODIs.

In fact, only openers Nick Knight (93) and Marcus Trescothick (54) and captain Nasser Hussain (84) have played in more than 50 ODIs, while there are seven players with less than 30 one-day internationals.

England’s management has always said “the key to one-day success was experience” but those ideas have now been thrown into disarray by the string of injuries to established players in Australia during the Test and VB One-Day series.

Such was the England’s plight that their selectors boldly gambled by naming three injured players, all-rounders Craig White and Andrew Flintoff and spinner Ashley Giles in their World Cup squad.

With the World Cup a mere two weeks away, Flintoff is making only slow progress with his rehabilitation to overcome a double hernia operation last summer while Giles is recuperating from a broken wrist on his bowling arm.

Ironically, White, who was summoned to join the squad as cover for Flintoff, sustained a rib muscle injury during the Melbourne Test, which has also taken quite a while to heal.

Despite the injury problems, England still managed to secure a berth in the best-of-three finals but were quickly brought back down to earth when Ricky Ponting’s mighty Australian outfit humbled them by ten wickets in the first match at Sydney.

Australia predictably swept the VB Series finals which could prove a big blow to England’s confidence with the World Cup starting in just over a fortnight.

England have also have embroiled in off-the-field problems with their cricket board.

Drawn in Pool ‘A’, alongside defending champions Australia, Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe and minnows Holland and Namibia, England face a Herculean task in advancing to the Super Six stage.

The English have two free-scoring openers in the left-handed pair of Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick, who will be followed by the prolific Test opener Michael Vaughan.

Before the start of the VB Series finals, Knight had five centuries under his belt in amassing 3 524 runs at a pleasing average of 42.45 while Trescothick has kept the scoreboard ticking at a strike rate of 88.75 en route to four hundreds at a creditable average of 38.58.

Despite his success in the Test arena, Vaughan has been unable to cement a place in England’s one-day squad, gaining selection in only 20 matches.

Hussain and Stewart are the only other specialist batsman in the squad, which is studded with a number of fledgling all-rounders such as Paul Collingwood, Ian Blackwell, Ronnie Irani, Flintoff and White.

Collingwood is a promising all-round player with one century and four fifties in his 32 matches while Flintoff and White, once fit, are capable of contributing with both bat and ball.

Irani has flattered to deceive after his career-best bowling figures of five for 26 as his batting average of just 15.76 runs an innings would attest.

Blackwell, the fifth all-rounder in England’s set-up, has made an encouraging start to his one-day career with a batting strike rate of 92.60 while picking up some vital wickets in his 11 matches.

Experienced Test seamer Andy Caddick leads the England bowling attack with support coming from Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Lancashire’s 20-year-old pacer James Anderson and Giles.

Apart from Caddick, whose has conceded 4.00 runs per over in 48 matches while taking 59 wickets, none of the other England bowlers has been very economical, with White’s 4.43 RPO, the next best effort.

Thus, England will not only need penetration from their bowlers but also economical line and length bowling if they are to stem the flow of runs from opposing batsmen.

Australia’s openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden exposed the chinks in England’s bowling armoury by combining for 21 fours and a six as they motored to 118 without loss of just 12.2 during the ten-wicket triumph at Sydney.

Other teams will want to follow suit by launching an attack on England’s attack of mostly militant medium-fast swing bowlers, who may however be encouraged by the South African pitches, which are usually seamer-friendly.

When all is said and done, the England squad, who may not have the backing of their Barmy Army supporters, will have to lift their game several notches if they are to overcome the likes of Australia, Pakistan and India, who are favoured to advance from Pool ‘A’.