England are in a do-or-die situation

If England do go out of the Cricket World Cup before the knockout stages, the International Cricket Council (ICC) will owe them a debt of gratitude for disproving the theory that the early rounds were going to be dull.

Their shock losses to Ireland and Bangladesh have blown Group B wide open and left them facing a win-or-bust situation when they face the West Indies on Thursday in their final game.

A win probably should be enough to see them through. Defeat and they will be out, if everything goes to form today and Bangladesh defeat the Netherlands.

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The Bangladesh display was notable for the fact it was the first time that both England's batting and bowling had failed - normally one of the facets of their game fires.

They batted well against the Netherlands, India and Ireland, but performed poorly when they had the ball in their hand.

Their batting was largely poor against the South Africa, apart from the ever reliable Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara, but the bowling came to the rescue.

But they were too tentative with the bat against Bangladesh before losing wickets at exactly the time they need to be accelerating at the end of the innings, and then gave away too many early fours as they failed to keep the bowling tight.

Now there is no more margin for error. Bowl as badly with the new ball as they have done previously in the tournament and Chris Gayle and his teammates will be on target for a big score.

Bat as poorly as they did in their past two games and the West Indies young pace attack, led by Kemar Roach, will run through them.

The pressure is on.

gcaygill@thenational.ae