T20 World Cup: If you are not quite on your game, a team can easily knock you over, says Chris Woakes

England all-rounder Chris Woakes reminded his teammates that if they are not quite on their game then any team can easily knock them over at the T20 World Cup.

England, who were stunned by Ireland in a rain-hit contest, will face Sri Lanka in their must-win match to book a spot in the last four. But their fate is not entirely in their hands as the defending champions would be looking to beat Afghanistan by a big margin to boost their net run rate which would then take them above England.

However, Woakes urged England not to overthink about the permutations and just focus on defeating Sri Lanka to seal their semi-final spot.

“We don’t go through if we don’t win this game, two points is the most important thing – I think we all realise that,” Woakes was quoted as saying by metro.co.uk. “You can look at net run-rates all you like but if the points are not there, it is irrelevant. I think we are fully focused on the fact Sri Lanka will be a tough challenge.

“We have already seen in this tournament and experienced ourselves that if you are not quite on your game a team will take advantage of that and can easily knock you over.

“I don’t think we feel we deserve or have the right to win World Cups because we have a good side. It is all about how we perform in crucial moments and games.”

Woakes, a member of the 2019 World Cup-winning England team, added that having tournament-winning experience could be crucial for him against Sri Lanka.

“If you had not done that before you had probably think, ‘God that is such a huge mountain to climb’. T20 can be a little bit fickle at times but at the same time it is also a big momentum game, so hopefully we can touch on that experience,” he added.

England will meet Sri Lanka in a Group 1 match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on November 5.