England are in must-win territory after successive defeats in their opening two matches at the Women's Cricket World Cup; watch South Africa vs England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30am on Monday morning
Sunday 13 March 2022 18:12, UK
England should not be written off, despite back-to-back defeats in the women's World Cup, says Sky Sports expert Nasser Hussain.
I spoke to England coach Lisa Keightley on Sunday afternoon and she said they haven't got all three facets of their game together.
In Australia they didn't bat very well, then they played Australia in the first game of the World Cup and batted brilliantly, got almost 300, but they didn't bowl particularly well.
They go to Dunedin and bat and bowl fine against the West Indies, but their fielding was awful.
That's the worst I've seen England field for a long time, if ever. Seven chances - there were five catches, a run out and missed stumping. They're better than that.
We were at nets on Sunday and Keightley had them in the huddle for a long time. The drills they were doing in fielding had a lot more energy.
I think they can go on a run from here, don't write this England side off. South Africa have had two narrow wins but they've been against Bangladesh and Pakistan, two of the weaker sides in the tournament.
England can get a bit of confidence but they pretty much need to win every game from here.
Can England make the last four? They have made it very difficult for themselves.
You look at the way India are playing and how Harmanpreet Kaur and Smitri Mandhana have batted, but England have a good record against every side they have got to play.
I think they'll beat South Africa on Monday, they're a better side, and that might give them a bit of energy.
They've been away from home since January, they did the Ashes, they've done lockdown and quarantine. They just need a bit of a boost and a lift, and hopefully here in Mount Manganui on Monday they can beat South Africa and that will get them going again.
Because England are defending a title they won in 2017 at Lord's. They have had to wait a long time to try and defend it. Three losses in a row would probably put an end to that.
England bowler Kate Cross has echoed Nasser Hussain's view that victory against South Africa could yet kick-start a revival that takes the Women's World Cup holders all the way to a fifth title success.
Cross admitted: "This is probably going to be the make-or-break stage of our tournament now and we're only two games in, which is not where we want to be.
"But we also rise to challenges - I think the 2017 World Cup was a good example of that as well. It's not the place we want to be and we're not going into the third game with the confidence we'd like.
"However, I do back this team and I think it could be a really special turnaround for us as well. If we get to the knockout stage we could still go on to win this tournament and we've all got to believe that.
"When you're losing, it's not easy to have a smile on your face. We want to create that energy and go out there and be the team we know we can be."
