World Cup 2015: England Cricket Team -- 'Ashes' to Ashes, Dust to Dust

So England's out of the World Cup, yet again!

The tournament is just gathering pace but with one match left to play in the group stage, Eoin Morgan's boys have crashed out of the ICC Cricket World Cup. The inventors of cricket have been shoved off the biggest spectacle of the game by a nation that is still trying to justify its Test status. (England Recount ODI Disasters)

England cricket team has now 'successfully' failed to make it to anywhere near the top four since 1992.

Abysmal, isn't it? (Morgan: Crashing Out 'Unbelievably Disappointing')

However, it was expected. There are plenty of reasons for England cricket team's terrible show in this edition of the World Cup. Before everyone jumps to point fingers at the sacking of Kevin Pietersen as a cause for this debacle, let's face it, with or without KP, England have never been a world beating unit in the limited over formats of the game.

Not conjectures but the stats prove it.

England have reached the finals of three World Cups - 1979, 1987 and 1992. To be honest, ODI cricket was different back then, very different. The rules were milder, a total of 200-plus was considered a winning score and batsmen with big broad bats didn't announce themselves on the world stage. (England Suffocated by Confidence)

Sanath Jayasuriya unleashed himself in 1996 and since then, England have a World Cup win percentage of 27% against full members, the lowest amongst the top eight. West Indies, a team that has hit its own lows, have a win percentage of 41%.

England and their cricket board have lived in denial of that fact!

The benchmark of the success in English cricket is the success in the Ashes. While the cricket world have moved on to the Indian Premier League, the Big Bash and the Caribbean Premier League, the English still believe that an Ashes win can sweep every other failure under the carpet. Test cricket is important, make no mistake but England forgot that even Test cricket has evolved from its primitive form.

No wonder, nowadays, England don't even win the Ashes anymore.

Stuart Broad has been dismal this World Cup

© Getty Images

This World Cup disaster is hard, especially on the English fans. After a change in captaincy, they hoped that the Irishman Morgan would be able to inspire some confidence in this English unit. The tri-series in Australia also pointed in that direction.

Then the wheels came off!

The 2015 World Cup perhaps, saw the worst of England. They got humiliated by New Zealand, thrashed by Australia and convincingly beaten by both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. They flexed their muscles against the Scottish but on current form, Afghanistan would be rubbing their hands with a glint in their eye while waiting for Morgan's men.

There should be a massive backlash against this performance and heads should roll. More than the players and the team, the English cricket board needs a makeover. They need a change in personnel and they need them to get off their high horses.

For long, England have looked down upon the innovations in cricket. Although, they pioneered the T20s, England have frowned upon the IPL and have often discouraged their players to participate in the cricketing extravaganza.

Australia on the other hand, have used the T20 leagues around the world as finishing schools for their youngsters. Even Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand have conformed to the same theory. As a result, these teams, along with India, have become potent forces in the cricket world.

Secondly, ECB needs to understand that to work as an efficient unit, one has to work with people who may not always fall in line. The sacking of Pietersen was a classic example. Agreed, Pietersen is a giddy horse but he's a man for the big occasions. In England's history, their only ICC event triumph was due to the belligerence of the 'bad boy' Pietersen.

Thirdly, England need to reinvent their cricket. They need to understand that their age-old county cricket system needs a revamp. They need to start producing stars with flair and flamboyance rather than concentrate on manufacturing boring conformists.

In 1882, England first lost to Australia on home soil. The Sporting Times carried an obituary, the death of English cricket - "the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia".

The term "Ashes" was derived from it.

There will be no such obituaries now and the worst hit would be a pun tweet from the Japanese Cricket Association but England cricket, well and truly, have bitten the dust in this World Cup. It's time they move on and rebuild their cricket from its ashes.