Michael Vaughan has called for Gus Atkinson to come into England’s bowling attack for their match against South Africa, but stated that their batting must improve if they are to come back into the tournament.

England’s seam bowling attack was taken apart by Afghanistan in Mumbai, with Chris Woakes and Sam Curran conceding a combined 87 runs off eight overs between them. Both Woakes and Curran have been expensive across all England’s three matches so far, with their defeat to Afghanistan their second of the tournament.

In his column for The Telegraph, Vaughan wrote that replacing both Woakes and Curran would be key for England to turn their fortunes around in their next game against South Africa.

“Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood are a must in Mumbai,” wrote Vaughan. “They have to get Ben Stokes in. It would be surprising if the one who looked half decent against Afghanistan, Harry Brook, was to miss out for Stokes. I always say in competitions, you stick with those feeling confident especially after a defeat. You don’t drop the one player who looked good.

“Stokes perhaps just comes in for Chris Woakes and Atkinson for Sam Curran. It packs batting enabling England to be ultra aggressive for longer. It just needs Joe Root and Liam Livingstone to fill in some overs, which is a gamble in Mumbai where you know one or two bowlers could take a hiding. England have no choice though. They need Stokes’s presence and Atkinson’s pace.”

Stokes has not played in any of England’s matches so far as he continues to recover from a hip niggle. There were positive signs he could have made a return against Afghanistan after upping his training workload, but he was given another game on the sidelines to recover. Atkinson was the wildcard pick in England’s 15-man squad, having made his ODI debut against New Zealand in their warm-up series for the tournament. The 25-year-old fast bowler played three matches in that series, and took one wicket.

Among England’s problems with the ball, they were also undone by Afghanistan’s strong spin attack with the bat in Delhi. They were bowled out for 214 having elected to chase. England have only won one game batting second against a Full Member nation in the last two years.

“For England to compete in this World Cup it is the batting that has to do the damage because their bowling on these wickets is not good enough,” wrote Vaughan. “If the ball zips around there are three or four other teams that have more pace than England. If it is spinning, I don’t have England in the top three best spin attacks in the competition so the only way they get back in the World Cup is making over-par scores and dominating with the bat, putting opposing bowlers under huge amounts of pressure.”

A tough fixture awaits England next up against South Africa in Mumbai. South Africa have looked the in-form batting team of the tournament so far, with Quinton de Kock scoring two centuries from two innings so far. Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram also both scored centuries in their first outing, in which South Africa amassed the highest score ever in men’s ODI World Cup history (428-5). Markram’s century in that match was the fastest ever in the competition’s history.

“Let’s be honest, South Africa have looked formidable so far,” wrote Vaughan. “They have a quality batting line up and they will face an England attack lacking confidence. The pitch in Mumbai is one where the ball could fly to all parts. England have to come out and play ultra aggressively with the bat. That could either go really well or really badly. Lose on Saturday and they are out of the competition. Simple as that

“England have lacked bravery with the bat. They are trying, I don’t doubt their effort, but sometimes you go to parts of the world where you don’t have the right skill sets to compete and if that doesn’t change on Saturday they will be out of it.”

Defeat against South Africa won’t mathematically rule out England, but could leave them with no margin for error. Six wins and three defeats is likely to be enough to secure a semi-final spot, while Pakistan missed out on the top four in 2019 with five wins and a no result.

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