where to from here, england?

Underfire Vaughan.

There is an old joke about a holidaying couple lost in the rural wilderness who stop to ask for directions.

Their intended saviour examines the map, leans forward conspiratorially and reveals, "Well, for starters I wouldn't set off from here."

Candidates to replace Duncan Fletcher will know the feeling when David Collier asks how they intend to establish England as serious contenders for the 2011 World Cup.

Any remaining capital assembled by the Zimbabwean was erased in Tuesday's humiliating defeat to South Africa, a defeat that on its own was depressingly predictable and whose true depths can only be gauged in the context of a dismal past and uncertain future.

If there is any significant improvement in England in the two World Cup campaigns since their abject display as hosts in 1999 then it has remained well hidden in their tortuous exit in the Caribbean.

The bankruptcy of England's batting strategy was laid bare in Barbados with Vaughan and Ian Bell scratching around like eczematous hens.

The captain's shortcomings as a one-day batsman have been listed exhaustively here and elsewhere while his most recent partner for once deserves much of the criticism that will come his way.

Bell has been exposed as incapable of modifying his approach in one-day internationals, and yet has kept his place for longer than any other England player.

The ease with which Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers later smashed their way to victory placed this timidity in yet starker terms.

A glacial starting speed can only be justified by entering the final straight with wickets in hand for a cavalier onslaught but Ravi Bopara, winning his eighth cap, was asked to steer the ship from 122/8 in the 38th over.

The bowling and fielding cannot fairly be judged in defending a pitiful 154 but was previously found wanting against New Zealand and Australia.

Opening bowlers who have been partnered as if on a speed-dating schedule might not have defended twice that score against opponents whose comparative embarrassment of riches allowed them to drop the fast bowler Makhaya Ntini for the titanic ball-striker Justin Kemp.

England's shortcomings are further condemned by Fletcher having had a unique, irresistible, world-class batsman, not even on the radar when the coach was appointed, dropped into his lap from Natal via Trent Bridge.

In addition to Kevin Pietersen, England have a second world-beater in Andrew Flintoff who looks as if he has forgotten how to play the game; there will be no slew of Freddie DVDs, books and pencil cases this summer.

This stagnation is a cause for serious concern, and poses a vital question for the future: What shall we do with the drunken sailor?

To justify his place on a fourth WC campaign the all-rounder will have to prove resilient to ankle injuries or develop into a batting specialist and neither looks a likely on recent evidence.

Yet despite a wretched winter not all of his own making he remains a magical presence in the team for colleagues, opponents and fans alike, and England must work tirelessly to prolong his career rather than indict him in the enquiries to follow.

While he cannot be totally ruled out of returning to the captaincy when Vaughan follows Fletcher at the end of the month, that scenario is unlikely - and this depresses the Lancastrian hugely.

England cannot replace Flintoff, and may have to work harder than many realise to coax a second golden age from the all-rounder.

Pietersen - through weight of runs - and Flintoff - by weight of popularity - ought to avoid the worst fallout from this debacle, alongside fellow middle-order dwellers Paul Collingwood, Paul Nixon and Bopara.

Ridiculous figure though he undoubtedly is, the wicketkeeper has been a qualified success since his CB series call-up but was an uncapped 35 year old at that point: the failure to identify what little ODI talent is available, such as Nixon and Bopara, only compounds the problems elsewhere.

Fletcher's contribution to the Test side ought not to be forgotten amidst the ignominious exit he will endure in the near future, but on Tuesday his ODI efforts represented less a legacy than a scorched earth policy.

The failure to beat a single Test playing nation on the biggest stage of all delivers an unequivocal verdict seven years in the making, one delivered with grim ecstasy by Smith at the Kennington Oval.

Peter May