The feeling grew yesterday of an England side struggling to keep up with their rivals when Matt Prior suffered a blow on the right thumb that may keep him out of the game against New Zealand this morning. With no standby wicketkeeper, the gloves would probably be passed to Vikram Solanki.

Prior had enjoyed his best game of the ICC World Twenty20 against South Africa on Monday night, holding four catches and scoring 32 from 31 balls at a period when England needed to dig in. Although changes were expected to the top order after the 19-run defeat, his own position has not been under scrutiny.

He suffered the injury while facing throw-downs from Peter Moores, the head coach, during practice at Kingsmead a few hours after the squad’s flight from Cape Town. England were analysing the results of X-rays last night and a team spokesman said that the situation will be reassessed before the 10am (9am BST) start.

Solanki, who most recently played for England 14 months ago, kept wicket for Worcestershire in a day of an LV County Championship game against Yorkshire this season, while Owais Shah and Darren Maddy also have limited experience. One-day squads rarely have a reserve specialist and Marcus Trescothick was the designated deputy until his stress-related illness.

In the worst scenario of a break, Prior’s place for the five-match 50-overs series in Sri Lanka, starting on October 1, will also be jeopardised. As a comparison, Ravi Bopara was ruled out for at least four weeks after suffering a fracture and dislocation against India at Headingley Carnegie recently.

The misfortune of the Sussex player could work to the benefit of Phil Mustard, the left-hander from Durham, who was considered for the present tournament after impressing in one-day cricket throughout the season. His aggressive style reached a wider audience in the Friends Provident Trophy final.

For now, the priority is to perm a batting lineup capable of posting at least 160 against a serious bowling attack. England managed only 135 against both Australia and South Africa, the surprising omission of Maddy two days ago producing no benefit in the initial overs considered in the build-up to be critical.

Luke Wright has scored 0, 3 and 0 and faced a total of 11 balls, this after following his debut half-century against India with a second-ball duck at Lord’s ten days ago. The speed of the game and intensity of fixtures means that players out of form are just as likely to fail again as to recover.

Paul Collingwood, the captain, rightly identified the loss of early wickets as a significant factor in the defeat by South Africa. The squad was packed with all-rounders to provide batting depth, effectively insuring against wickets falling to the new ball. But the lower order has neither fired nor hung around against top-class bowling.

Another setback today would mean that England can qualify for the semi-final only on net run-rate with three sides level on points behind unbeaten winners of the group. New Zealand have retained all bar Stephen Fleming of their World Cup side and were extremely professional in a ten-run win over India on Sunday.

The early start should help seam and swing, tempting both sides to revert to a single spin bowler. New Zealand adopted such a route here last Wednesday morning, their pace bowlers sharing eight of the wickets as they dismissed a fragile Kenya for 73, the lowest total of the event so far.

Kevin Pietersen, who at least will have some friends in the crowd this time because his family is in the city, has declined to play up the run-out against South Africa, when he tripped in collision with Shaun Pollock. “I was more worried about my elbow,” he said.

It turned out to be bruised and England need their leading player at his most mobile today. “Twenty20 is a lottery,” he said. “One of our guys could get 130 from 50 balls or one of the New Zealanders could do the same. I am not sure you can prepare 100 per cent because anything can happen.”

— Pakistan opened their Super Eights campaign with a 33-run victory over Sri Lanka in Johannesburg last night. Shoaib Malik, the captain, and Younus Khan made 57 and 51 respectively in a 101-run fourth-wicket partnership that laid the foundation for Pakistan’s 189 for six. Sri Lanka’s response struggled to gather pace after losing their first three wickets for only 35