Room for improvement - Vaughan

/ Editor / 12 April 2007 / Leave a Comment

has warned England that improvement is needed if they are to have any chance beating South Africa.

England's bowlers appeared to have put the side on course for a routine victory after dismissing Bangladesh (who had been reduced to 65-6 at one stage) for just 143 on Wednesday, with Sajid Mahmood and Monty Panesar both claiming three scalps, while James Anderson took two wickets.

However, the batsmen again were far-from-impressive and eventually eked past the low total for the loss of six wickets with just five overs left.

England now take on South Africa in a make-or-break game on Tuesday and Vaughan insists the side will have to play much better if they are to get the win that will keep their semi-final hopes alive.

"There were a lot of areas in the first half [of the game] where we could have improved," Vaughan said.

"We will have to improve our display when we play South Africa on Tuesday because we know they're a good team and they will put us under pressure."

The England skipper revealed he was relieved to have got the win against the Tigers, who have already beaten India and South Africa in the tournament, even though the manner of victory was not as convincing as it could have been.

"We should have chased down the target but they played well and the three spinners are a very hard option - you can see why they have won games in this World Cup," Vaughan, who top-scored with 30, said.

"It was tighter than we'd have liked but we got the two points, we've got a few days off now and we have to make sure we go into that South Africa game hopefully playing a little bit better."

South Africa are the 1.53 favourites to beat England (2.88) in the Match Odds market, while Duncan Fletcher's men are available at 3.55 to reach the last four of the Caribbean showpiece.