T20 World Cup: England must improve to have any chance of repeating previous World Cup successes

But England are still clinging to the hope that something will fall into place, something will fall into place and give them their first full performance in the competition.

Perhaps that could happen if they beat Italy and get back to Sri Lanka, where they won comfortably 3-0 before this trip, but at the moment England don’t seem entirely clear on where to look.

Brook said: “I don’t know” and asked why his side couldn’t find the line they wanted. “Things don’t seem to be going well so far.”

He said things we could all see.

Brook was in England’s squad for the 2022 and 2024 World Cups, and these cups started badly but then took different turns.

In 2022, England lost to Ireland but responded by comprehensively beating a New Zealand team that edged the hosts Australia by 89 points.

England need a similar performance soon to restart the tournament as it now looks more like their efforts in 2024, with their only wins coming against Oman, Namibia, the United States and the West Indies.

England reached the semi-finals on this trip around the Caribbean but were defeated every time they faced real opponents (Australia, South Africa and India).

In reality, the spark from England’s white-ball sides goes back much further than that night in Melbourne in November 2022.

This was not the case at the 2023 World Cup, the Caribbean in 2024 and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan last year, when the hiring of Brendon McCullum as white-ball coach failed to get them out of their slump and he left without winning a match.

Brook says it’s the “belief” in the squad that makes him confident this tournament will be more like 2022 than 2024.

“We’ve been in a situation before where we lost a match early and World Cups don’t always go smoothly,” he said.

Outside the locker room, that belief is waning.

If Brook can’t find it, coach McCullum should, because an underwhelming run to the semi-finals hasn’t saved former coach Matthew Mott from his job in 2024.

Salt thinks England can beat anyone on their own day and thinks it’s time to set a firm date in the calendar.

Many of the sport’s successful teams have an arrogant streak. But most importantly, this has to be earned.

Scotland’s win ensured their survival but England have no chance of winning this World Cup unless they improve.