A key factor in England's successful defence of the Ashes was their ruthlessness in finishing off opponents when on top.
Well that ruthlessness seems to have gone the way of the white kits as the one-day careless let Australia out of their grasp in the second one-day international at Hobart.
England twice had the hosts under real pressure during their innings at 33-4 and later 142-8. On both occasion England let their advantage slip and were made to pay dearly. Anyone following the latest cricket scores would have expected the home side to be skittled out, but they managed to post 230.
Ok, credit must go to Shaun Marsh for hitting a blistering century with able support from Cameron White and, of all players, Doug Bollinger.
It seems ironic then that Marsh didn't make the Aussies World Cup squad, though neither did England's Chris Tremlett, who had the best English bowling figures of 3 for 22.
Those extra runs conceded to Australia's wagging tail become more significant with each passing wicket.
Bollinger, boosted by his quick-fire innings, took the key wickets of Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen with consecutive balls to give the home side the momentum and England fans keeping track of the latest scores watched on in horror.
England, though Bell and Trott began a rebuilding shot before contriving to give their wickets away. Trott in particular lofted a long-hop straight to mid-wicket for a dismissal the bowler should be a little embarrassed to celebrate.
In the end the deficit of 46 runs just shows how important those runs at the tail end of the Aussies innings were. If England really do harbour genuine ambitions of winning the World Cup next month then such slackness with the ball needs to be cut out.
The return of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson will be a welcome boost but it seems that for the first time on this otherwise perfect tour Andy Flower may have some thinking to do.
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