Nottinghamshire bowler Stuart Broad has cited a lack of consistency for England’s early exit from the ICC World Twenty20.
Samit Patel starred in a spirited defeat to Sri Lanka with a tidy 67 but Lasith Malinga’s demolition of the top order ultimately proved costly.
"I have learned that we have got a very exciting group of young guys," said Broad.
"We have been a little bit too inconsistent but we are learning from every game and that is important.
"I thought we had the power to go far in this tournament but, with a young side, you get good performances and you get some average ones."
Patel’s performance belied his omission from previous fixtures. Nottinghamshire teammate Alex Hales was one of Malinga’s victims but can reflect with some pride on 124 tournament runs, Michael Lumb failed to make an appearance whilst Graeme Swann had given England some hope with wickets from consecutive balls yesterday.
"Our fielding hasn't been as good as it could have been, our death bowling let us down on the odd occasion and early wickets have hurt us," said Broad.
"We lost three wickets in an over which really damaged us, but we have to look at the positives, too. Samit played an excellent knock, certainly against the spin, and Steven Finn's been fantastic for us in this tournament."
Tournament victories over Afghanistan and New Zealand were offset by defeats to India, West Indies and Sri Lanka as England relinquished the ICC World Twenty20 crown they won in Barbados in 2010.