Paul Collingwood, the England captain, has admitted his side may be forced to make changes to their top-order following yesterday’s dismal batting display against South Africa.

England travel to Durban later today knowing that their inability to chase down a modest total of 155 for victory has set up a straightforward formula - beat New Zealand at Kingsmead on Tuesday or face elimination at the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

It is a simple scenario and one they must fulfil if their campaign is not to be labelled a failure having only beaten Zimbabwe in three matches so far in the competition.

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.

Collingwood is well aware that in all three matches in the tournament, his side has lost wickets inside the first six overs of fielding restrictions. “An area we need to look at is our starts - we’re losing too many wickets early doors,” he said. “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.

“He’ll have to keep learning,” Collingwood said. “He’s a very talented kid. He’s got the ability once he gets in, he just hasn’t got in at the moment and he needs to give himself a chance to get in. He’ll learn quickly from these type of experiences but our starts are an area we will have to have a look at.”

Collingwood’s frustration at England’s failure to beat South Africa was compounded by seeing several catches being spilled. The captain was himself involved in a mix-up with Owais Shah in the deep which could have removed Albie Morkel on 14 - he went on to hammer 43 off 20 balls.

His was one of a number of errors which allowed the host nation to reach a competitive total and Collingwood admitted it is another area England will have to work on if they are to progress.

“The areas where we’re off the pace at the moment is our fielding and our catching especially, and that’s disappointing,” he said. “We haven’t played a hell of a lot of floodlit cricket and it is different. We’ve come across from England without a lot of preparation with regards to playing under lights.”