CRICKET: Duncan Fletcher can be a gregarious, effusive fellow, but his relationship with the media is one of scarcely guarded mistrust. Press conferences are conducted with all the animation of Arnold Schwarzenegger reciting the precepts of Polonius. Cards are kept so close, there is an imprint of the Queen of Hearts on his chest.

But at St George's Park yesterday another whither-England question saw him colour and bristle. "I just don't think it should be in this forum to discuss," he snapped. "We have an important game against Australia so why should we want negative things written? I don't think we should be discussing that right now."

If the question touched a nerve then there is little point in pretending that it may not be an issue in the near future. If England's match against Australia goes pear-shaped tomorrow, Nasser Hussain's side almost certainly will be heading home.

And with them, unless all the runs have been misread, will go the Hussain era, at least as far as the one-day side is concerned.

Unlike Test cricket, which despite ICC's attempts at a championship table lacks a focus beyond individual series, the World Cup provides a natural four-year cycle for one-day cricket. Teams plan around it, build their squads and their hopes, and then, when it is over, look to the next one. Hussain's captaincy of the one-day side began in Bloemfontein on the back of England's World Cup failure in 1999, and may well finish in Port Elizabeth.

The indications have been there for some time. Even before he left for Australia, Hussain had been hinting that the ridiculously punishing schedules imposed on international sides would mean him reconsidering whether he could carry on leading the side in both forms of the game. There is also the chance that the selectors feel that whatever Hussain's own wishes, it might be wise to move on both in terms of captaincy and as a front-order batsman.

The future of the captaincy provides its own conundrum. If Hussain is to continue the Test leadership, which he must, then he has to be relieved of the responsibility not just of captaining the one-day team but also of playing a form of the game at which he does not stand out.

The answer could lie in the decision six years ago - innovative by England standards - to appoint Adam Hollioake as the one-day captain. Immediately he won a series abroad and engendered a ferocious team spirit. But he was not allowed to see the job through.

This is a genuine leader, still only 31, and an excellent competitor who has succeeded as a player at international level. He should, however, take it on his terms: a guarantee that he would take the side on to the next World Cup in the Caribbean.

Ramnaresh Sarwan, who recovered from a sickening blow to the head and trip to hospital as a result, came agonisingly close to pulling off a miraculous win for the West Indies against Sri Lanka in Cape Town yesterday.

But the 22-year-old's heroic efforts, and his unbeaten 47, were not enough to save his side from going down to a six run defeat as they finished on 222-9.

Earlier in the day in Bulawayo Zimbabwe defeated the Netherlands by 99 runs. After making 301-8, Zimbabwe restricted the Dutch to 202-9 off their 50 overs