The Pietersen factor
The spectre of Kevin Pietersen hanging over them. KP would have made Englandstronger but even Pietersen at his best might have struggled to extricate themfrom some of the positions they found themselves in.
Knowing he was so close by cannot have helped either, nor seeing him paradea bewildering range of hairstyles on an almost nightly basis.
Still mystified by Asian pitches
England have an inability to play spin on Asian pitches where the ball canskid and grip though not often at the same time. England practise hard and withGraham Gooch and Andy Flower, two brilliant players of spin, as mentors youwould expect progress to have been made.
Sadly, only Samit Patel played with the kind of ease managed by players likeIndia's Virat Kohli and the Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene.
Back to basics on team selection
Confused team selections. Stuart Broad and Andy Flower kept players on theirtoes, with a constantly changing team, but the logic they applied seemed overlycomplicated.
Their reasoning behind basing certain selections because they felt the pitchat Pallekele was quicker under lights and slower during the day, sounded likeparalysis by analysis. As with most things in sport, apply the basics well andthe right results tend to occur.
Early batting setbacks
Bad starts with the bat proved costly. Most teams aim to be aggressiveduring the first six overs but to lose only one or two wickets. England tendedto lose them in the first over which set them back on their heels.
Hopefully they will have watched how other teams deal with that openingphase of the innings, which seems to be about defeating the infield notpowering it into the stands, at least it does if you are not the West Indian ChrisGayle.
Lack of experienced players
An inexperienced young team. England's batting had 11 international hundredsamong them while some of their opponents, like Sri Lanka, can boast over 100.
Craig Kieswetter and Jonny Bairstow were disappointing and looked callowwhen the pressure bit. Ian Bell would have offered an alternative as opener butFlower is mindful of players' workloads and having more than a handful playingall three formats is probably as many as he wants if he is to keep his teamsfresh.
