England’s time may come as they just cling on but Shahzad is on his way home

Just when you thought they were going to come a cropper, they have somehow clung on by their fingertips.

In every game so far, England have looked likely to lose their grip and come crashing to earth.

Twice one hand even came off the clock face as they lost to Ireland and Bangladesh.

Incredibly, however, they are still hanging on.

Yesterday’s 18-run win against the West Indies saw them through to the quarter-finals barring the unlikely event of Bangladesh beating South Africa tomorrow and the West Indies earning at least a point against India on Sunday.

Prior to the latest nail-biter, England survived a scare in their opening game against the Netherlands before prevailing by six wickets and then scraped a six-run win against South Africa.

Throw in a dramatic tie against India and not even Harold Lloyd could have envisaged a plot quite so hair-raising.

Barring unexpected twists this weekend, England are thus three wins away from lifting the trophy.

It sounds absurd – and yet it is true.

Theoretically, a team whose form has been more unpredictable than the National Lottery could yet walk off with the coveted prize.

Stranger things have happened at sea.

Of course, England must improve ten-fold to beat the big guns – the likes of Australia and India.

But it is not impossible.

Sporting history is littered with teams playing inconsistently in the early stages of competitions only to click into gear when it really counts.

Whether Andrew Strauss’s England can be one of those teams remains to be seen.

It almost goes without saying this is not the best England side to have donned the Three Lions, but it is has plenty of spirit.

England are presently without their best batsman in Kevin Pietersen, one of their best bowlers in Stuart Broad and they were yesterday obliged to drop James Anderson, who has been a shadow of his normal self following a draining winter.

And yet they held their nerve against the West Indies when one false move would have spelt the end.

At the very least, such strength under pressure augurs well.

Already this winter, England have shown character.

They were pummelled by Australia in the third Ashes Test in Perth only to roar back to win the series 3-1.

But greater consistency will be needed to win the World Cup.

Instead of three or four people playing well, England need at least seven or eight performing somewhere near maximum.

One man who will play no further part, however, is Ajmal Shahzad.

The Yorkshire pace bowler has been ruled out with a hamstring injury – a recurrence of a problem suffered in Australia.

It must cast serious doubt on whether he will be fit for the first County Championship match of the season at Worcester on April 8.

News of his setback will hardly have cheered Yorkshire on their pre-season tour of the Caribbean.

Shahzad had looked in pretty good order.

He bowled well in the humiliation against Bangladesh – albeit against some fairly ordinary batsmen – and has much to offer England in all forms of the game.

Shahzad will be bitterly disappointed to be returning home at such a key stage of the competition, but he can look back with pride on his efforts this winter.

Perhaps the only certainty as far as England’s World Cup challenge is concerned is that nothing is certain.

If you thought the Pakistanis were mercurial, you have not been watching Strauss and his men.

Can they manage to retain their grip on the clock face?

I’ll let you know if I ever come out from behind the sofa.