Batsman Joe Root feels England need to make a convincing statement that they belong in the World Cup quarter-finals when they meet Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their final two group games . England must win both matches , against lower-ranked opponents , to have any chance of reaching the knockout stage . An early exit looms large after Sunday 's nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in Wellington followed wide-margin beatings by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand . Joe Root has insisted that England must succeed in securing convincing victories in their next two games . Root snicks a ball down fine leg during England 's defeat by Sri Lanka in their previous World Cup match . That has piled the pressure on , albeit in two games Root points out that England would have needed to win in any circumstance . 'If you play those two games at the start of the competition you still have to win them , ' Root said . 'The way our schedule is , we have these games towards the end . If it was broken up a bit more it might look slightly different . 'But it does n't take away from the fact that we want to win these two games convincingly . ' England 's hastened need to restore confidence is underlined by the fact that should they reach the last-eight they will now most likely play the highest-ranked team in Pool B . That will almost certainly be either South Africa or world champions India , who England did beat twice during the Tri-Series leading up to the World Cup . 'We do n't want to just scrape through - we want to put in some really good performances and put to bed some of the things we 've got wrong so far , ' Root added . England captain Eoin Morgan was left with plenty to ponder after suffering his third defeat of the World Cup . Sangakkar and team-mate Thirimanne shake hands with Morgan after Sri Lanka 's nine-wicket wi . 'We know that if we get through to the quarter-finals we 'll be in a position where we have nothing to lose . 'There will be sides coming up against us who could potentially be quite timid and think they should beat us and that could work in our favour . 'By the time you get to that stage it 's crunch time and every side is under pressure ; not just us . Hopefully we can get those wins and build some momentum . ' Root believes the gap between England and the best teams at the World Cup is not as large as their heavy defeats would suggest . ' I do n't think that 's fair , ' he said . 'Yes , we have been beaten heavily in those three games , but I do n't think that we are that far away from beating those sides . 'If we get the best out of every individual and all play as well as we can then we are just as good as sides like that if not better . It 's about making sure , for the next two games especially , that we turn up and do everything we possibly can to put those performances in . 'That 's got to come from the individuals to make sure they front up . Not just the senior players ; not just exciting young players coming into the side . From everyone . ' Root hit a career-best 121 from 108 balls against Sri Lanka but England 's bowlers could n't match his exploits . Steven Finn and James Taylor show their disappointment after England 's third loss of the tournament . Root stood up to be counted in the Sri Lanka defeat when the 24-year-old became England 's young World Cup centurion . His career-best 121 from 108 balls inspired England to a formidable 309 for six - the second successive match they had passed 300 - only for the bowlers to lack any penetration as twin tons from Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara eased Sri Lanka to victory in 16 balls . 'At the start of the day , if you 'd given us 310 we 'd have thought that a very good effort , ' Root said . 'Whenever you get 310 on the board you are immediately putting sides under pressure to chase it . Unfortunately we did n't create that pressure with the ball and we did n't do anything to make it difficult for them from 10 overs onwards . ' The ease of Sri Lanka 's chase suggested England did not set their sights high enough and , while Root admitted more risks can be taken with the bat , they had left Sri Lanka with a record chase at the ground . 'There was no feeling turning up to the game that 270 was a par score , ' he said . 'We got out there , we played it as we saw it , there were periods when Sri Lanka bowled really well at us . We got 310 which , on that wicket , I felt was a good score . 'In one-day cricket maybe we could have taken a few more risks , potentially we could have gone a bit earlier at them , be more aggressive earlier . But it 's a fine balance . If you then lose two wickets - on that wicket , we 'd done well to get to where we were . 'Unfortunately we could n't quite create the pressure with the ball that they did . We were n't disciplined enough and we leaked too many boundaries . '
England have lost heavily to Australia , New Zealand and Sri Lanka . Joe Root says they have to impress against Bangladesh and Afghanistan . They must beat both to have chance of reaching World Cup quarter-finals .