England needed to beat Australia - Graveney

The chairman of England selectors, David Graveney, has insisted that England's World Cup campaign was not a failure, and refused to blame England's refusal to play in Zimbabwe for their exit.

"The bottom line is we had the opportunity to beat Australia and if we had we would have qualified," Graveney told Sky Sports. "When you get a side eight down for 135 chasing 205 you'd put that down as a golden opportunity."

"It's obviously got to be a disappointment not to qualify but I wouldn't say it is a failure. I think we played some good cricket, gave Australia a good run for their money, beat Pakistan, had the up side and down side of playing day-nighters, but that doesn't take away from the disappointment"

Graveney added that 'rain-days' should have been built into the group stages of the competition, as they already are for the later stages.

"It was much debated before the tournament. Unfortunately the West Indies have suffered and the game last night in Durban (between South Africa and Sri Lanka) came to a sad conclusion for the home nation. Why don't we have them for the group matches?"