Adelaide, Australia: The shortcomings of the England players have been evident at the World Cup, and Peter Moores has no doubt about that. The England coach also has no doubt, though, that his players are determined to prove their worth as they play for World Cup survival against Bangladesh in a Pool A match on Monday.
England needs to win its last two pool matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan to have any chance of reaching the quarterfinals.
After opening its tournament with big losses to co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England had a win over second-tier Scotland before another convincing defeat to Sri Lanka last week.
"They feel they have got a point to prove and they want to go out and start proving that, and the only place you can do that is on the cricket field," Moores said.
He the team seems to be handling the situation it has created for itself heading into Monday's match at the Adelaide Oval.
"Well, there is pressure in the World Cup, and certainly pressure on us as a team because we haven't played as well as we'd like to have done," he said. "We've had some challenges, that's for sure. We've got a mix of experience and young players and the ability to be able to handle pressure and play under pressure is part of the job of being an international player. So that will be the challenge of the players — we're very much aware of it."
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza is also aware of the importance of the match as his team sits on the verge of advancing to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.
"If we can win this match, it will be a great memory for everyone involved with this team," Mortaza said.
Bangladesh has won two pool matches and shared the points with four-time champion Australia after their washed-out game in Brisbane. Its last win came down to the wire when it successfully chased a big Scottish total.
"Our boys are looking very confident, especially after chasing 318 in the last match," Mortaza said. "It doesn't matter who they are against ... they're ready to answer the questions tomorrow."
Mortaza's lineup will like its chances of beating the underperforming English after winning their last World Cup encounter by two wickets at Chittagong in 2011.
"It's a nice memory for us, but how we play tomorrow is the main thing," the captain said.
Both Moores and Mortaza are expecting plenty or runs to come from the Adelaide Oval's drop-in pitch, with the prospect of yet another big run target putting extra pressure on the bowlers.
"It looks historically a good batting pitch here, so I expect it to be full of runs," Moores said. "Bowling-wise, we'll put out what we think is the best team to be able to take wickets, put them under pressure and obviously win the game.
"Swing has been important in this tournament, and it's an area we've got good swing bowlers and people like (James) Anderson and (Chris) Woakes, and they've looked at their games to see and make sure they can get the most out of that," he added. "Because that is going to be a fact, getting the ball moving laterally makes quite a difference in one-day cricket."
Mortaza agreed England's swing bowlers could pose a problem if performing well, but remained confident of being able to set a strong platform against the likes of Anderson and Stuart Broad.
"Yes, some players can be difficult ... but we have to think of our process," he said. "It doesn't matter who it's against. We can set the tone in first 10 overs, do really good and hopefully we'll do it."
