Pietersen: Defeat not an option

England have lost their matches against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia - the only top Test nations they have faced so far in the tournament - yet still have a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

"We need to win a big game against a big nation and that's what we have to do on Tuesday," said the Hampshire batsman. "There's no point going through the World Cup beating the minnows and not winning a big game - Tuesday is a must-win game, otherwise it's going to be a pretty dismal World Cup for us."

England's performances throughout the tournament have been undermined by the struggles of their top and middle order to find any consistent success.

Captain Michael Vaughan is yet to pass 50 in his seven innings while key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has been performing with the ball but has scored only 72 runs in five innings.

But having played - and beaten - both sides recently, Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England are close to finding the form which guided them to a shock Commonwealth Bank series success a couple of months ago.

"I think there's a good chance that could happen," said Ponting. "South Africa aren't playing their best cricket at the moment and England probably haven't played their best through this tournament yet either.

"But I can see it being a bit closer game than a lot of people may think.

"England, having just been there and done it before in the Commonwealth Bank Series when everyone wrote them off, probably know within themselves they have a chance of doing it again.

"It's a do-or-die game for them. If they win it and the next one, they'll probably sneak through into the semis - which would be a great result for them."