Heather Knight clinging on to England's slim qualification hopes

England have lost to Australia, West Indies and South Africa in the 2022 Women's World Cup and are languishing in seventh place with zero points

Heather Knight has admitted other matches will probably have to go England’s way if they want to qualify for the knockout stages after suffering a third straight defeat at the 2022 Women’s World Cup.

The defending champions lost to South Africa by three wickets in Mount Maunganui and are languishing in seventh place with zero points after previously losing to Australia and West Indies.

And once again, fielding errors played a big part in England’s defeat, most notably two missed chances to dismiss Laura Wolvaardt inside the powerplay. The South African went on to score 77 runs.

"It’s pretty painful losing three games in a row and I guess at times we shot ourselves in the foot with our fielding," Knight told Sky Sports.

^{England lost to South Africa by three wickets [Fiona Goodall/Getty Images]}

"A batter like Laura Wolvaardt, you can’t give her that many chances or she’ll make you pay, so we’re obviously pretty gutted with the situation."

Heads are understandably down in the England camp, but they have little time to dwell on the defeat with a must-win clash agaisnt India on March 16. And despite their sticky situation, Knight is urging her players to park their previous disappointments and hold onto their slim qualification hopes.

"We’re obviously going to have to win that game and win it well," she said. "We’re going to have to turn that around very quickly.

"There will be some sad faces in the dressing room, but we’re going to have to get everyone up and ready and come out fighting.

"I think other games probably have to go our way now, but there is a still a chance, and we’ll keep believing."