Vaughan puts himself in the firing line for World Cup debacle

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 18 (UNI) Having dumped out of the World Cup after suffering a humiliating nine-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa, England captain Michael Vaughan accepted that a change in leadership may be required to bring England cricket back on rails but ruled out quitting one-day cricket.

Talking to media in the post match press conference, Vaughan said, ''For the past six months we have been playing bad cricket. We lost the Ashes and few other matches. We came to the World Cup with a hope of turnaround in our fortunes but we played badly. Now, this is the time for talking to many people and find out what went wrong for the English cricket.'' ''English cricket has to be back on track and for that everything can be done. May be the best team, best captain or best coach,'' said the injury-prioned captain who failed to inspire the team with a miserable form with the bat.

Vaughan, however, sought to absolve blame from coach Duncan Fletcher for England's disastrous World Cup campaign and instead said the players were to be blamed for the debacle.

South Africa medium pacer Andrew Hall took five wickets to help dismiss England for 154 before Graeme Smith hit an unbeaten 89 to lead his side to victory in just 19.2 overs.

The England captain said after winning the toss he thought of putting up 220-230 runs but his batsmen failed to do so, with Andrew Hall decimating his batsmen and Graeme Smith leading a carnage of his bowlers in the second innings.

''But Andrew Hall's reverse swing changed the game and obviously the fans are quite frustrated,'' he said.

UNI