By Jonny Saunders BBC Sport, Colombo

After the blitzing they received at the hands of Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly, England have been licking their wounds in Colombo ahead of their return to the UK on Wednesday.

It was the second successive game against India that the England bowling attack suffered at the hands of their strong batting line-up.

And there must be worries that it will happen again when the two sides meet in the big one - a World Cup group match in South Africa next year.

By that time England will hope that Darren Gough is fit.

Gough's variations might have slowed India

His importance to the World Cup cause has risen considerably in the last 24 hours and Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher will be praying that he can first of all get back to full fitness and then sustain it for the whole of the winter.

Hussain said he needed something a bit extra from his bowling attack when Sehwag and Ganguly were in full flow and Gough is the kind of world class bowler who can provide it.

His presence in the side also seems to bring the best out of Andy Caddick, whose figures of 7-0-59-0 against India were disappointing to say the least.

Blackwell's advance

Because Hussain and Fletcher seem usually to pick only two out and out quick bowlers, it might mean Matthew Hoggard dropping out of the World Cup eleven, although there would be a strong argument for including all three against a batting line-up as strong as India.

As combative as they both are, Dominic Cork and Ronnie Irani will not have put the fear of god into Messrs Dravid, Tendulkar and co.

The batting in Sri Lanka has been the big plus for England with Trescothick, Knight, Hussain and Blackwell all passing the fifty mark with cameo performances from Shah and Irani.

Blackwell: When he hits them, they stay hit

With Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff both due to return to the side after injury there shouldn�t be too many worries on that front.

Blackwell has been the find of the tour and if he continues his progress in Australia he should definitely go to the World Cup.

His big hitting against India was a tremendous spectacle and the prospect of watching him and Flintoff batting together should excite even the dourest of England fans.

If he can improve his left arm spin bowling a notch or two he can be a genuine match-winner.

Of the other World Cup 'fringe' players who came out here Shah and Irani will have done no harm to their cause while the England management appear to appreciate the know how and intelligence of Jeremy Snape.

It was a frustrating time for James Kirtley who didn't play a game, but his omission from the Indian mauling may prove to something of a blessing for him in the long term.

Finally, Rikki Clarke emerged as a man for the future who will have gained huge experience from the two-week tour despite the fact that, like Kirtley, he didn't feature in either of the two games.