England face acid test

England want to recreate Sunday's feelgood factor when they take on South Africa at Trent Bridge

England enter the second stage of the ICC World Twenty20 knowing the next three matches will determine just how close they are to competing with the world's best sides.

The hosts have demonstrated both sides of their character with a sloppy display in the defeat to Holland followed by a vibrant performance to beat Pakistan and qualify for the Super Eights.

Their reward for those efforts is three matches against highly-fancied South Africa at Trent Bridge tomorrow, holders India at Lord's on Sunday and an unpredictable West Indies side at The Oval on Monday.

But by the end of those three matches, captain Paul Collingwood is convinced England will have a better idea of the potential of his emerging team - particularly as the next World Twenty20 is just 10 months away in the Caribbean.

"It's such a strange game," conceded Collingwood. "You can think you've played quite well and lose the game and vice versa, and I think we've learnt a lot about ourselves already in the competition, which is great for the future.

"I think everybody has got an idea of what their roles are now and how to go about it, which is crucial, but in these next few games we'll find out exactly where we are because these are going to be the teams to beat, definitely."

Collingwood and England are aware they can ill afford any repeat of the performance they delivered against Holland if they are to claim one of the two top spots in their group and qualify for the last four.

That particularly applies to tomorrow's showdown against South Africa, who were smashed 4-0 in last summer's 50-over one-day series but have since had a re-think of their strategy and have emerged with a side many believe will lift the trophy at Lord's on June 21.

"We did well against them last year but this is a totally different occasion in a different format," stressed Collingwood. "I think they're a well-balanced side with a good batting line-up, the two spinners in the middle and they obviously have pace as well.

"We're going to have to be right on top of our game but there are areas that we obviously have looked at what we want to target.

Johan Botha and spin partner Roelof van der Merwe have bowled tightly in the group stage

"We can take a lot of heart out of how we played against Pakistan the other night on a wicket that was turning a bit."

But to do that against South Africa effectively means England attacking spin duo Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe, who have conceded just 65 runs in 15 overs between them during the group stages and claimed six wickets.

It is a dangerous option, but Collingwood said: "I thought we attacked Pakistan pretty well in the middle period so hopefully we can score against van der Merwe and Botha whereas other teams have struggled against them.

"We're not targeting but we do want to play with the same attitude as the other night. We want to score runs against them because you've got to score right the way through the innings whether it's seam or spin.

"We approached it really well against Pakistan; we were very well calculated on how we went about it. The two lads at the top of the order are doing a fantastic job for us and getting us off to a good, solid start.

"We continued all the way through and didn't lose momentum at any stage and that's the key. If you do have two or three bad overs you give the opposition a bit of a sniff."

England are considering their options and could choose the same line-up who won so emphatically against Pakistan, although the wicket at Trent Bridge is unlikely to be as worn because it will be used for the first time in the tournament.

Regardless of the conditions, though, Collingwood will be stressing the importance of the next three games and not allowing a repeat of their Dutch display.

"We're going to have to play to our absolute potential in all these games," he said. "We've played well twice against West Indies in the warm-up game and against Pakistan, but the other night was a really clinical performance.

"The nature of Twenty20 cricket is that if you have one or two bad overs you put yourselves right behind the eight ball, and you've just got to be careful to calculate the risk when you're out there. You still have to have that attitude to keep going for it because it's the nature of the game."

England prepare for their biggest game of the summer so far at their Loughborough training base