ENGLAND face Twenty20 World Cup elimination after a woeful fielding performance against South Africa that saw Paul Collingwood's men drop five catches in a 19-run defeat.

Boss Peter Moores must now inspire his side to win against India and New Zealand in their remaining two Super Eight fixtures or England will again be leaving a limited-overs tournament early.

England's recent 4-3 one-day series win against India had heightened expectations but Collingwood saw his team of Twenty20 specialists let theirvictory chances slip through their fingers.

South Africa had been 94 for six, but Albie Morkel, dropped twice, hit three huge sixes in a row in a brutal 43 off 20 balls as 98 came in the final 11 overs.

Collingwood continually rotated his bowling unit, handing his pace bowlers one-over spells and spinner Jeremy Snape just one over throughout.

"We put South Africa under pressure early but then it turned into happy hour, so we just had to hang on," said Donald.

"With the one-over spells, Colly's the man in charge and I think he made his decisions brilliantly.

"He hasn't given the bowler two overs, meaning no batsmen could get set. I think his bowling changes have been quite magnificent."

Paceman Brett Lee recorded the first World Twenty20 hat-trick as Australia coasted to a nine-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their first match of the Super Eights.

The fast bowler had Shakib Al Hasan caught behind for 16 then bowled Mashrafe Mortaza and pinned Alok Kapali leg before.

That left Bangladesh 108 for six, Tamim Iqbal (32) and Aftab Ahmed (31) having made the best scores, and they eventually closed on 123 for eight.

Lee finished with three for 27 and Nathan Bracken two for 14.

Despite a shock defeat to Zimbabwe in the group stage such a total was hardly likely to trouble Australia, the reigning 50-over world champions.

Adam Gilchrist was run out in the 12th over for 43, having hit four sixes and one four in 28 balls, but Matthew Hayden saw them to victory in the 14th over with an unbeaten 73.

The big left-hander smashed three sixes and nine fours in 48 balls and captain Ricky Ponting's pull through midwicket for two brought up the win with 6.1 overs remaining.

Man of the match Lee praised all the bowlers for the performance.

''That loss to Zimbabwe gave us a kick in the pants and has definitely improved our performance,'' he said. ''I tried to get the ball going through today."

England never recovered from Morkel's onslaught as star batsman Kevin Pietersen was involved in a controversial run out as Collingwood's men tamely waved the white flag.

"I think the way we bowled was fantastic. We obviously made some mistakes in the field, but I think we would have taken 154 to chase down," said Collingwood. "We didn't get off to the best of starts, and we were up against it from then on.

"I don't think the ground fielding was that bad, it was just the catches.

"Catches win matches and they were very costly tonight. It's something we'll have to look at, but we've got two games to go and we have to win them both.

"It was a disappointing night with the bat. We lost a few too many wickets at the top, but the young guys will learn from it and get it together for the next game."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith was delighted with the display, revealing that they did not panic when they lost early wickets

''We know we bat deep and it was superb effort,'' he said.

''We knew what we had to do. There are few things to work on and there is a long way to go in the tournament but it was fantastic.''

England made two changes after Friday's mauling by Australia, bringing in James Anderson and Jeremy Snape for Darren Maddy and James Kirtley.

Collingwood won the toss, and decided to let South Africa work out what was a good score on a heavily-cracked pitch that was used for the earlier Australia-Bangladesh match.

Chasing a competitive target of 155 to win, England's familiar batting frailties were again obvious. Luke Wright, promoted to the top of the order at the expense of Maddy, was caught by AB de Villiers off Shaun Pollock for a fourth ball duck.

Pietersen was run out after colliding with Pollock, while Collingwood edged his first delivery into the gloves of Mark Boucher, leaving England teetering on the brink at 28 for three after five overs.

Matt Prior (32) and Owais Shah (36) steadied the ship for England, racking up a 55-run partnership. But when Prior holed out to Vernon Philander and Shah was bowled by Morkel, England were reeling on 98 for five.

Andrew Flintoff hit a brave 17, but when Johan van der Wath uprooted his off stump, England's chances of victory went with it, slipping to a 19-run defeat.

Morkel had earlier edged the tie away from England with a swashbuckling 43 to put the hosts in command.

Stuart Broad (3-37) and Flintoff (2-23) were the pick of the England bowlers ripping through the South African batting line up early on.

Justin Kemp (21) and Mark Boucher (29) kept the scoreboard ticking until Morkel boomed four sixes - including three in a row off Chris Schofield - to undo England's hard work.

Meanwhile, England bowling coach Allan Donald refused to criticise skipper Collingwood after his bizarre on-field decision-making during South Africa's innings.