Tuesday 3 March 2015 11:23, UK
Batsman Joe Root says England must prove they belong in the top eight teams in the world by beating Bangladesh and Afghanistan convincingly in their final pool games.
An early World Cup exit looms large after Sunday's nine-wicket humilation by Sri Lanka in Wellington, following wide-margin beatings by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand.
The three defeats have piled the pressure on Peter Moores' side, albeit in two games Root points out England would have needed to win in any circumstance.
"If you play those two games at the start of the competition you still have to win them," Root said. "The way our schedule is, we have these games towards the end. If it was broken up a bit more it might look slightly different.
"But it doesn't take away from the fact that we want to win these two games convincingly."
England's hastened need to restore confidence is underlined by the fact that should they reach the quarter-finals they will now most likely play the highest-ranked team in Pool B.
That will almost certainly be either South Africa or world champions India, who England did beat twice during the Tri-Series leading up to the World Cup.
'Nothing to lose'
"We don't want to just scrape through - we want to put in some really good performances and put to bed some of the things we've got wrong so far," Root added.
"We know that if we get through to the quarter-finals we'll be in a position where we have nothing to lose.
"There will be sides coming up against us who could potentially be quite timid and think they should beat us and that could work in our favour.
"By the time you get to that stage it's crunch time and every side is under pressure; not just us. Hopefully we can get those wins and build some momentum."
Root believes the gap between England and the best teams at the World Cup is not as large as their heavy defeats would suggest.
"I don't think that's fair," he said. "Yes, we have been beaten heavily in those three games, but I don't think that we are that far away from beating those sides.
"If we get the best out of every individual and all play as well as we can then we are just as good as sides like that if not better. It's about making sure, for the next two games especially, that we turn up and do everything we possibly can to put those performances in.
"That's got to come from the individuals to make sure they front up. Not just the senior players; not just exciting young players coming into the side. From everyone."
Watch England v Bangladesh on Sky Sports World Cup (SS2) at 0300 on Monday March 9
