England mulling strong response

CHENNAI, India (AP):

England take on South Africa tomorrow following what batsman Jonathan Trott described as the "wake-up call'' of his side's defeat by Ireland.

Wednesday's three-wicket loss in Bangalore left England vulnerable in Group B, with the team needing to tighten their bowling and sharpen their fielding quickly ahead of a meeting with one of the strongest sides in the tournament.

"You have the teams you are expected to beat,'' Trott said. "Obviously, the Test-playing nations you are expected to have good battles against and win all the others. So to lose against a team like Ireland, who played really well toward the end of their batting innings, was very unexpected but a good wake-up call for the team.

"We now know what lies ahead of us and the job in hand and what we have to do to be able to progress.''

Looking forward

England could probably afford to lose to a South Africa side that has so far disposed of the West Indies and the Netherlands without difficulty, but that will leave them needing to beat under-pressure co-hosts Bangladesh and the resurgent West Indies to progress.

"Guys are having a think about their own performances and their own roles in the team, and having a think about what they need to do to be able to contribute to the team being successful,'' Trott said. "We can't look too much at the game we have just lost. I think it would be foolish if we looked backward. We want to go forward in this competition and it starts on Sunday with South Africa.''

England's players have started to look ahead to the match and the strengths of their opponents. Trott said he had thought about the match against his country of birth a while ago.

Keeping eyes open

"A little bit,'' Trott said. "You always keep your eye open when the fixture lists come out and you see the opposition you are playing against. You obviously think about the time that you come up against them in the competition.''

With Pakistan-born spinner Imran Tahir helping address South Africa's long-standing spinning weakness, England are up against a more well-rounded one-day side than the Proteas have fielded in recent years.

"The team they have, have a few more options in the spin department and they seem to have a few powerful batters as well, so a good all-round team,'' Trott said. "But definitely, on the day of the week we hit our straps, we can compete and they are very beatable.''