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

But England are still holding out hope that something will eventually happen, that something will simply fall into place and give them their first full performance in the competition.

That could come – perhaps, if they beat Italy, on a return trip to a comfortable Sri Lanka where they had won 3-0 before this trip – but at the moment England do not seem entirely clear where they should look.

“I don’t know,” Brock said when asked why his team couldn’t find his nerve. “It seems like things haven’t improved yet.”

He told what we can all see.

Brook was part of England’s squad for the 2022 and 2024 World Cup finals, both of which started poorly before turning in two different directions.

In 2022, England lost to Ireland but responded with a comprehensive victory over a New Zealand side who had just crushed hosts Australia by 89 points.

England need a similar performance soon to restart the tournament as they now look closer to their efforts in 2024, when their only victories came over Oman, Namibia, the United States and the West Indies.

England reached the semi-finals on that trip around the Caribbean, but were beaten every time they faced their real challengers – Australia, South Africa and India.

In fact, the spark from England’s white-ball players has been absent since that night in Melbourne in November 2022.

He was absent from the 2023 World Cup, the Caribbean in 2024 and the Champions Cup in Pakistan last year when the appointment of Brendon McCullum as white-ball coach failed to lift the team out of the doldrums and they left without winning a game.

Brook says it is the “belief” in the team that makes him confident that this tournament will be more like the 2022 edition than the 2024 edition.

“We’ve been in this situation before where we lost a game early and World Cup finals didn’t always go smoothly,” he said.

Outside the locker room, that faith is diminishing.

If Brock can’t find him, coach McCollum will have to because a disappointing run in the semifinals didn’t save former coach Matthew Motte from his job in 2024.

Salt believes England can beat any team on their day and it’s time to mark a date on the calendar.

Most successful sports teams had an arrogant streak. But more importantly, it must be earned.

Scotland’s win ensured their survival but England have no chance of winning the World Cup if they do not improve.