Not for the first time, England are doing their best to keep a World Cup interesting. In 2011, a dull, meandering group stage was saved by their unpredictability. Now, successive defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia have, from nowhere, given four other teams a mathematical crack at the semis. The rest of the world should be grateful as well as gleeful.

England, though, are struggling to see the funny side. Eoin Morgan was tetchy yesterday with an Australian reporter who wondered if England’s failure to beat the Aussies at a World Cup since 1992 stemmed from a “subconscious fear”. Moments later, Ben Stokes spoke defiantly of “our World Cup”, and of “not taking a backward step”.

Stokes, in fairness, has mainly been moving forward. His patient 89 against South Africa in the opening game suggested England really were learning to settle for 300, rather than fall flat on their face aiming for 400. Had anyone been smart enough to hang around with him in Leeds on Friday, England would have beaten Sri Lanka. And he alone injected any kind of tension into yesterday’s chase at Lord’s.

Then there’s the weather, which has meant a succession of relatively sluggish surfaces – and England promised they had got that monkey off their back after failing to adapt to the Cardiff pitch during the 2017 Champions Trophy semi-final.

All of this places an onus on flexibility, and Morgan’s side are showing precious little of that. Perhaps more damagingly for their chances in this tournament, they don’t sound terribly honest with themselves.

The truth is that they have been unable to implement the strategy that has served them so well since 2015 – and have not demonstrated the nous to adapt. Four years ago, England were laughing stocks of the World Cup. They have not got long to avert a repetition.