By Rory Dollard.

England missed their chance to reach the World Cup semi-finals after a crushing nine-wicket defeat to South Africa yesterday.

Here, the Daily Echo looks at reasons for England fans to be miserable, and reasons for them to be cheerful at the team's prospects.

REASONS TO BE MISERABLE.

Inability to get to grips with one-day cricket.

England have taken huge strides in Test cricket in the last five years and can lay serious claims to being the second best team in the world over five days despite their Ashes whitewash.

But that progress has not been mirrored in the shorter form and England lack not only success but any palpable game plan or direction.

Selection seems to be based on whim and too often players who do come in look like they are auditioning for the Test team rather than moving the ODI side forward.

The prospect of a split captaincy.

England's previous dalliances with a dual-captain structure have not been overly successful with Adam Hollioake's initial promise soon petering out and Nasser Hussain deciding that there was no room for both him and Vaughan as England skippers.

Ironically Vaughan now finds himself in Hussain's position, struggling to justify his place in the side through weight of runs and physically drained by the experience of trying.

But with his Test match record too good to make jettisoning the Yorkshire batsman altogether unpalatable, England could be heading for a similar scenario again.

Demoralised players.

A 5-0 Ashes whitewash is enough to knock the stuffing out of anybody, but there were noticeable signs of recovery during their morale-boosting Commonwealth Bank Series victory.

Now, with yet another one-day tournament failure firmly in their minds - and boos ringing in their ears - there is a serious danger that the England's summer series' against the West Indies and India could become the next victim of the side's fragile confidence.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL.

Time to change things.

England's recent struggles mean there must be a serious strategic overhaul but the positive side is that there is plenty of time to put the side on the right path.

Some changes may take longer than others but the time between the last World Cup and this one was used ineffectively with a series of botched theories and abandoned stop-gaps. If lessons are learned a genuinely competitive England side in Sri Lanka four years down the line is not unthinkable.

Plenty of Test cricket on the way.

English cricket fans are notoriously old-fashioned in their preference for the traditional five-day format and those supporters will have the chance to see plenty of it in the summer.

Red balls, slow-burning innings and the likes of Matthew Hoggard and Alastair Cook will all come into play again and it is in those situations that England have the best chance of flourishing.