Vaughan admits tough battle against SA

England expectedly won their Super Eight match against Bangladesh but captain Michael Vaughan has asked a better performance by the team against South Africa here next Tuesday.

''We put up a shoddy performance. Next match will be a very huge one and we have to improve our performance. We have to do something,'' said Vaughan in the post match press conference, trying to hide the embarrassment of chasing a modest total of 143 runs against Bangladesh and losing six wickets on the way.

''There a few areas we definitely need to improve on going into the future games.'' With Barbados pitch promising a bouncy wicket, he admitted that South Africa match would be a very tough game.

Having said that Vaughan went on add that it was tough to beat Bangladesh.

''Full credit to the Bangladesh side. They are not easy opponents. Just a few days ago they beat South Africa and they also got the better of India in the first round. We are happy that we managed to cross the line.'' On the positives from the match, Vaughan said, ''Sajid Mahmood was terrific upfront and he got very good support from the other bowlers too.'' ''We have learnt a lot from today's game and I am sure it will stand us in good stead for the games against South Africa and West Indies to be played here,'' he said.

Bangladesh skipper Habbur Bashar did not try to defend his team's lack of ability to negotiate shorter balls. ''When you play at this level, you should be prepared to face all kinds of challenges. I think we were at least 60-70 runs short,'' Bashar said.

He did, however, shower praise on the way his team fought back.

''I am really happy with the way the boys played in the latter half of the match. We will try to put up good performances in next two matches also.'' Man-of-the-Match Sajid Mahmood said, ''I really enjoyed bowling on this pitch. It offered good pace and bounce.'' UNI MT PDS PM0623

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