“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”

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England batsman Joe Root has made it clear that England have to beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they want to avoid taking an early flight home from the World Cup.

Root’s comments come after England were beaten by Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

“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.

“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.

“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 also stated it was unfair to say that there was a big gap between England and some of the best teams in the World Cup.

“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.”