Andrew Strauss' men appeared to have turned the corner on Sunday in Chennai when they beat South Africa by just six runs.
But it all went wrong again in Chittagong today as the Tigers successfully chased 225 for only their second-ever win over England.
The defeat to Bangladesh is England's second embarrassment of the tournament after their dreadful loss to Ireland.
And it leaves England on five points and on the brink of a humiliating early exit.
Basically, if the other pool results go as expected, England will need to beat the West Indies and hope that the Windies do not get a result against India.
However, even if they somehow scramble through, the chances of England regaining enough form to win the World Cup would now seem to be minimal.
Having said that, England have performed much better in the so-called 'bigger' matches of this tournament, only to then totally misfire against the minnows.
After the defeat to Ireland, reported here, England came into the match against South Africa under severe pressure to perform.
That pressure seemed to tell as the wickets of Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell all fell early leaving England on 15-3.
From there, Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara shared a fourth wicket partnership of 99, but once they were dismissed, England provided little more resistance and failed to bat out their overs.
Despite a slow pitch, their score of 171 looked at least 30 runs short and South Africa made light work of the chase early on.
Opening pair Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith put on 63 for the first wicket before a combination of Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann removed them and Jaques Kallis.
It appeared only to be a slight interruption to the Proteas' progress as the wonderfully-named pair AB de Villiers and Francois du Plessis set about restoring the innings.
However, when their wickets tumbled in quick succession, it began a collapse which would prove terminal.
South Africa lost their last seven wickets for 41 runs as Broad picked up figures of 4-15 off 6.4 overs.
The notorious chokers, South Africa, had choked again as England took relief from coming out the right side of a tight result.
But the mood in the England camp was soon dampened by news that Pietersen would have to fly home for a hernia operation.
And it got even worse later in the week when match-winner Broad was forced home with side strain. Eoin Morgan and Chris Tremlett were drafted in as the two replacements.
Morgan played well this afternoon, scoring 63 off 72 balls as England were once again forced to recover from a poor start.
Bangladesh won the toss and reduced the English to 53-3 before Trott, again, and Morgan shared a significant stand of 109 for the fourth wicket.
However, back came the co-hosts and England lost their last seven wickets for 63 and fell short by two balls of batting 50 overs again.
Roared on by the noisy crowd, the Tigers began their reply in superb fashion with dangerous opener Tamim Iqbal hitting 38 off just 26 balls.
England got a foothold in the game and took three quick wickets to reduce Bangladesh to 73-3 before Iqbal's opening partner Imrul Kayes then played himself in.
Kayes ended up winning the man of the match award for his knock of 60 but it looked as if he may have dealt a decisive blow against his team during the game.
When his wicket fell to a run out on a second run that was never there, it prompted a collapse of five wickets for 14 runs.
Ajmal Shahzad (3-43) and Swann (2-42) shared those five wickets as Bangladesh collapsed to 169-8 and disappointed supporters made their way to the exits.
The Tigers had already endured a humiliating afternoon a week ago when bowled out by the West Indies for just 58, the lowest score in World Cups by a Test-playing nation.
But, in keeping with the rest of this England campaign, there was to be a final twist in the tale as Bangladesh snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
An unbeaten partnership of 58 by Mohammad Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam got the home side over the line, taking advantage of some inaccurate, exhausted death-bowling from James Anderson and Tim Bresnan.
Predictably, the ECB's decision to extend England's tour to Australia into February has not worked out.
Pietersen and Broad are back in UK with injuries while the players who remain on the subcontinent look physically and mentally shot.
However, those factors should not take away anything from the Bangladeshi performance which was much improved on their last outing against the West Indies.
The victory relieves the pressure on the Bangladesh team and the skipper Shakib Al Hasan who faced sharp criticism in the wake of last week's humiliation.
Now, with matches still to come against the Netherlands and South Africa, the Tigers look in good shape to progress.
Sadly, the same could not be said of England - or, indeed, of Ireland's chances.
Since their fine win over England, the Irish have faded in Group B after successive losses to India and the West Indies.
But those defeats are no great disgrace for an Associate nation and the records will show Ireland competed relatively well in both contests.
Against India in Bangalore, the scene of their triumph over England, captain William Porterfield scored 75 but found support only from Niall O'Brien who made 46.
Niall's brother, Kevin - who was the hero against England with the World Cup's quickest ever century - was quiet on this occasion, caught and bowled by Yuvraj Singh for nine.
Ireland's total of 207 never looked likely to trouble India's strong batting order but the Irish attack never gave up.
George Dockrell, an 18-year-old spinner from Dublin, took the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and India captain MS Dhoni while Australia-born Trent Johnston removed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
Add in a run out by Kevin O'Brien on Virat Kohli and it was clear that Ireland had made India toil towards a five-wicket victory which put them top of the group.
Ireland continued their respectable form today against the West Indies, only to fall 44 runs short in the run chase.
Devon Smith struck a career-best 107 and Kieron Pollard hit 94 off 55 balls as the Windies made an imposing total of 275.
But, again, the Irish refused to accept they were beaten and, after the early failures of Porterfield and Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce knocked them into contention.
Joyce scored 84 and Gary Wilson hit 61 off 62 balls before the latter was controversially given out lbw even though replays showed the ball pitched outside the line and he was playing a shot.
Despite referring the on-field decision, Wilson was adjudged not to be attempting a shot and, at 199-6, Ireland's last hope of pulling off a second shock was gone.
Dockrell scored 19 but none of the rest of the lower order could get out of single figures as Sulieman Benn took 4-53 and Windies captain Darren Sammy finished with 3-31.
The result leaves Ireland needing to beat Netherlands (probable) and South Africa (unlikely) to have any chance of making it through to the last eight.
But, as long as Porterfield's men beat the Dutch and maintain their level against the Proteas, they can look back on this World Cup with a clear conscience of having tried their best.
That does not look like being the case in the England camp.
For, while Ireland were no doubt expecting to have to rely on other results, it is a frankly inexcusable situation for even an exhausted England side.
WORLD CUP RESULTS SO FAR
GROUP A FIXTURES
AUSTRALIA + CANADA + KENYA + NEW ZEALAND + PAKISTAN + SRI LANKA + ZIMBABWE
Qualified for the Quarter Finals: Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan
| Date | Venue | Result |
| 20 Feb | Chennai | NEW ZEALAND 72-0 beat KENYA 69 by 10 wickets |
| 20 Feb | Hambantota | SRI LANKA 332-7 beat CANADA 122 by 210 runs |
| 21 Feb | Ahmedabad | AUSTRALIA 262-6 beat ZIMBABWE 171 by 91 runs |
| 23 Feb | Hambantota | PAKISTAN 317-7 beat KENYA 112 by 205 runs |
| 25 Feb | Nagpur | AUSTRALIA 207-3 bt NEW ZEALAND 206 by seven wkts |
| 26 Feb | Colombo | PAKISTAN 277-7 beat SRI LANKA 266-9 by 11 runs |
| 28 Feb | Nagpur | ZIMBABWE 298-9 beat CANADA 123 by 175 runs |
| 1 Mar | Colombo | SRI LANKA 146-1 beat KENYA 142 by nine wickets |
| 3 Mar | Colombo | PAKISTAN 184 beat CANADA 138 by 46 runs |
| 4 Mar | Ahmedabad | NEW ZEALAND 166-0 bt ZIMBABWE 162 by 10 wkts |
| 5 Mar | Colombo | SRI LANKA 146-3 v AUSTRALIA (No result - rain) |
| 7 Mar | New Delhi | CANADA 199-5 beat KENYA 198 by five wickets |
| 8 Mar | Kandy | NEW ZEALAND 302-7 bt PAKISTAN 192 by 110 runs |
| 10 Mar | Kandy | SRI LANKA 327-6 beat ZIMBABWE 188 by 139 runs |
| 13 Mar | Mumbai | NEW ZEALAND 358-6 beat CANADA 261-9 by 97 runs |
| 13 Mar | Bangalore | AUSTRALIA 324-6 beat KENYA 264-6 by 60 runs |
| 14 Mar | Kandy | PAKISTAN 164-3 bt ZIMBABWE 151-7 by seven wkts (DL) |
| 16 Mar | Bangalore | AUSTRALIA 212-3 beat CANADA 211 by seven wickets |
| 18 Mar | Mumbai | SRI LANKA 265-9 bt NEW ZEALAND 153 by 112 runs |
| 19 Mar | Colombo | PAKISTAN 178-6 beat AUSTRALIA 176 by four wkts |
| 20 Mar | Kolkata | ZIMBABWE 308-6 beat KENYA 147 by 161 runs |
GROUP B FIXTURES
BANGLADESH + ENGLAND + INDIA + IRELAND + NETHERLANDS + SOUTH AFRICA + WEST INDIES
Qualified for the Quarter Finals: South Africa, India, England, West Indies
| Date | Venue | Result |
| 19 Feb | Dhaka | INDIA 370-4 beat BANGLADESH 283-9 by 87 runs |
| 22 Feb | Nagpur | ENGLAND 296-4 bt NETHERLANDS 292-6 by six wkts |
| 24 Feb | New Delhi | S AFRICA 223-3 bt WEST INDIES 222 by seven wkts |
| 25 Feb | Dhaka | BANGLADESH 205 beat IRELAND 178 by 27 runs |
| 27 Feb | Bangalore | INDIA 338 tied with ENGLAND 338-8 |
| 28 Feb | New Delhi | WEST INDIES 330-8 bt NETHERLANDS 115 by 215 runs |
| 2 Mar | Bangalore | IRELAND 329-7 beat ENGLAND 327-8 by three wickets |
| 3 Mar | Mohali | S AFRICA 351-5 bt NETHERLANDS 120 by 231 runs |
| 4 Mar | Dhaka | WEST INDIES 59-1 beat BANGLADESH 58 by nine wkts |
| 6 Mar | Chennai | ENGLAND 171 beat SOUTH AFRICA 165 by six runs |
| 6 Mar | Bangalore | INDIA 210-5 beat IRELAND 207 by five wickets |
| 9 Mar | New Delhi | INDIA 191-5 beat NETHERLANDS 189 by five wickets |
| 11 Mar | Mohali | WEST INDIES 275 beat IRELAND 231 by 44 runs |
| 11 Mar | Chittagong | BANGLADESH 227-8 beat ENGLAND 225 by two wickets |
| 12 Mar | Nagpur | SOUTH AFRICA 300-7 beat INDIA 296 by three wickets |
| 14 Mar | Chittagong | BANGLADESH 166-4 beat NETHERLANDS 160 by six wkts |
| 15 Mar | Kolkata | SOUTH AFRICA 272-7 beat IRELAND 141 by 131 runs |
| 17 Mar | Chennai | ENGLAND 243 beat WEST INDIES 225 by 18 runs |
| 18 Mar | Kolkata | IRELAND 307-4 beat NETHERLANDS 306 by six wkts |
| 19 Mar | Dhaka | SOUTH AFRICA 284-8 bt BANGLADESH 78 by 206 runs |
| 20 Mar | Chennai | INDIA 268 beat WEST INDIES 188 by 80 runs |
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