England ponder batting order

Sunday night's costly 19-run defeat to South Africa at Newlands has set up a straightforward formula - beat New Zealand at Kingsmead on Tuesday or face elimination. But to achieve their objective, England must first solve the problem of the shaky starts that have seen them consistently lose early wickets, undermining their ability to post major totals.

In all three matches in the tournament, they have lost wickets inside the first six overs of fielding restrictions and captain Paul Collingwood admitted: "An area we need to look at is our starts - we're losing too many wickets early doors."

He added: "We know what we have to do from now on - we have to win our next two games, it's as simple as that.

"We usually respond pretty positively in these situations and I'm sure the boys will be wanting to do that. We're not down and out as yet and I'm sure we'll get a good response from all of them."

Luke Wright appears the most vulnerable member of England's top three having scored only three runs in three innings during the tournament and facing just 11 balls.

Vikram Solanki is the obvious alternative to come in as a replacement, although Collingwood remains convinced Wright has the ability to succeed once he learns how to adapt to international cricket.

Meanwhile, Matt Prior has given England an injury scare after the Sussex wicketkeeper sustained a bang on his right thumb facing throw-downs in the nets and was taken to hospital to have an X-ray to determine how bad the injury is.

Worcestershire batsman Vikram Solanki took the gloves for the remainder of England's practice but no decision is likely to be made until the team arrive at the ground for Tuesday morning's match.