England put through tough fielding session

	England spent two hours working on the fielding but still not everything was sticking © AFP Enlarge
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England were put through a tough two-hour fielding session the day after arriving in Chennai ahead of their crucial World Cup match against South Africa on Sunday. Their catching has been poor during the tournament with three further drops proving costly against Ireland as Kevin O'Brien ambushed them with the fastest World Cup century.

Andrew Strauss had a chance to end O'Brien's innings on 91, a steepling chance running round from mid-off, and while that was tougher than some England have dropped it continued the slip in standards since the end of the Ashes. Earlier in the innings Matt Prior dropped a sitter when Paul Stirling top-edged a pull and Michael Yardy spilled a firmly-struck caught-and-bowled opportunity.

The three-wicket defeat against Ireland now means England probably need to win two of their final three matches to make the quarter-finals and that will need a significant improvement in the fielding, bowling and late-order batting. Although Jonathon Trott and Ian Bell added 167 for the third wicket there was no flourish at the death as the final five overs brought 33 runs.

Still, a Test-class bowling attack should have been able to defend 327, especially with Ireland 111 for 5, even though the Bangalore surface was a beautiful batting strip. England set themselves very high standards in the field - Richard Halsall, the fielding coach, is rightly credited with doing superb work - and their World Cup campaign will only survive if they return to that level.

However, despite the humbling experience of Wednesday evening Trott, who top-scored with 92 and equalled the record for the least number of innings to reach 1000 ODIs run alongside Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen, insisted the response in the dressing room had been measured rather than panicked.

"Obviously we would have liked to have won the game, being in the position we were - and we were very disappointed. But we have three very winnable games ahead of us, and a huge chance to qualify for the quarters and to peak at the right time and towards the important time.

"Obviously the Test-playing nations you are expected to have good battles against, and win all the others," he said. "So to lose against a team like Ireland, who played really well towards the end of their batting innings, was very unexpected but a good wake-up call for the team. We now know what lies ahead of us and the job in hand and what we have to do to be able to progress."

Ireland's successful chase from a poor position - and, to a lesser extent, England's tie against India last weekend - showed how no total is safe on a flat batting surface. But having removed half the Ireland side it was alarming how quickly the bowling fell apart and Trott knows it's vital that the team don't lose focus at any point during their next three matches.

"We have got to play 100 overs of good cricket - especially in today's climate and how quickly games can change, how quickly people can take the game away from you on these flat wickets. We have got to be on the ball all the time," he added. "I think we can't look too much at the game we have just lost. I think it would be foolish if we looked backwards. We want to go forwards in this competition - and it starts on Sunday with South Africa."

Playing against South Africa will bring the usual references to Trott's past. They didn't see the best of him on the 2009-10 tour, his first overseas trip with England, but can expect to confront a far more rounded player on Sunday. Trott, meanwhile, respects Graeme Smith's team but only sees them as another opponent.

"They are obviously a well-drilled side," he said. With Imran Tahir now in the team, they have a few more options in the spin department - and they seem to have a few powerful batters as well. They are a good all-round team but definitely on the day of the week we hit our straps we can compete - and they are very beatable."

Pietersen, Graeme Swann and Paul Collingwood sat out England's extended fielding session on Friday with various niggles picked up in Bangalore but all are expected to be available for the South Africa match. However, Collingwood's position will come under scrutiny because the middle order is lacking power which could mean a return for Ravi Bopara.