Fletcher loses poker face as World Cup ambition takes another battering

The Poker face of Duncan Fletcher has always done its best to convince outsiders that England's one-day team has a trick somewhere up its sleeve, but after Saturday's 20-run defeat by Sri Lanka even the coach is wondering whether next year's World Cup will fizzle out into a busted flush reminiscent of 1996, 1999 and 2003.

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Just over two years ago Fletcher outlined his one-day ethos when he said: "It takes about 30 games to become comfortable at this level." There are just two problems: injuries have made continuity next to impossible, and England have a maximum of only 25 one-day internationals between now and their first World Cup match against New Zealand in St Lucia on March 16. Fletcher, the antithesis of Captain Mainwaring in every way, can be forgiven for eyeing the panic button.

"We're getting in a situation where there are not a lot of games left and we're going to have to make up our minds pretty soon," he said. "At this stage we're looking at it as if some of the injured guys will come back. But if they don't we just hope that some of the other players will be good enough to perform in the World Cup. We just hope that 20 games is enough to give them the necessary experience."

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For a man whose renowned rigour once helped him design the car number-plate system in Zimbabwe, this must be agony. Fletcher hates leaving anything to chance - last year's Ashes success was a masterpiece of preparation - but hope has replaced certainty, and even the chairman of selectors David Graveney has publicly expressed his concerns: "If we continue to play the way we have been doing this summer, we will not retain the Ashes and we will not win the World Cup."

During England's 5-1 defeat in India earlier this year, Fletcher said he knew all but one of his A-list World Cup XI. But in the absence of Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles and Simon Jones, England were forced on Saturday to field five relative newcomers. With time running out, his assertion that he knows his best side sounds more a plea for sympathy than a statement of intent.

Between them, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Jamie Dalrymple, Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett have won 35 one-day caps. "We just have to look at a couple of players now and establish the roles we want them to play in and whether they're capable of playing those roles," said Fletcher. But does he really think they are good enough? "I'm not going to pass judgment on a couple of games," he said.

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If the medium term looks hazy, the short term is not much better. England's indiscipline with the ball on Saturday, when they conceded 42 extras - beating their previous high of 41 - reflected a worrying naivety, and the ragged ground fielding prompted Fletcher to admit he was going to have to sit down with some of the team and have a "chat".

Further embarrassment came in the form of career-best performances from the 21-year-old Upul Tharanga, who hit 120, and the 22-year-old Lasith Malinga, with three for 26. Since Tharanga was winning only his 22nd one-day cap and Malinga his ninth, the notion peddled by Fletcher - that experience is the key - was left hanging awkwardly in the air.

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England must now wait and see if Michael Vaughan has developed sufficient confidence in his right knee to return later in the series. Fletcher is in constant contact with the man he still thinks of as his captain, and the decision not to replace the injured Ed Joyce in the 15-man squad suggests that all might not be lost there.