England captain Andrew Strauss had no qualms in admitting that his side has failed to play good cricket consistently in the ongoing World Cup as they edged past the West Indies to keep their quarterfinal hopes alive.
With England’s 18-run win on Thursday, Group B is still wide open and the remaining three quarterfinals berths could be grabbed by any of the four teams -- India, Bangladesh, West Indies and England.
Only South Africa, with eight points from five games, have advanced to the knockout stage from Group B.
The three spots will be decided after the South Africa-Bangladesh tie on March 19 and India-West Indies match on March 20.
Strauss said his side need to raise the level of performance if they have to go a distance in the World Cup in case they qualify for the next stage.
“If we do progress in this tournament we got to be a lot better than we had been. We are not going to hide behind the fact that we won. We got to be lot better and more consistent,” Strauss said. “More than anything, the kind of togetherness that got us through. We have been through some tough times through the winter. We did not want to leave the World Cup at this state. I am proud of the lads,” he said.