Beggars cannot be choosers, so England will gratefully accept their first win of the World Cup, comfortably defeating Scotland by 119 runs with plenty of time in hand. It was a win against a feisty opponent that snapped like a terrier throughout, and certainly had its good points. Moeen Ali stroked his way to 128 from 102 deliveries,with five cleanly-struck sixes, and there was an opening stand of 172 with Ian Bell, the highest for England in a World Cup, beating the 158 of Dennis Amiss and Barry Wood, against East Africa in 1975 when Derek Pringle’s father, Donald, opened the bowling for the opposition. There were runs towards the end of the England innings too from Eoin Morgan, 46 from 42 balls, the England captain having the twin task of settling a mid-innings wobble while propelling things forward, and Jos Buttler made a violent 14 ball 24 at the end.
Replying to England’s 303 for eight, Scotland took up the challenge with gusto. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, who ought to have been familiar with how Kyle Coetzer plays, gave him the room to swing his arms and belt the ball through the offside and straight so that he galloped along, hope springing eternal. It proved to be largely a lone hand he played though, his 71 from 84 balls, with 11 fours, ended when he lofted Moeen to long on. By then England had already gained control. England’s response was underpinned in particular by some excellent bowling from Steve Finn, who took 3-26 and was rhythmical, pacy and bang on target: this was really encouraging after the mauling he received in Wellington. Scotland ran out of steam as England made regular inroads, the match ending with more than seven overs remaining.
England had chosen to field the same XI once more in the hope of significant improvement, but the manner in which the middle order failed to deliver at a time when they had been put in a position to bat Scotland right out of the game remains a cause for concern. If Moeen, Morgan and Buttler scored 198 runs between them from 163 balls, then the rest of the batting managed 85 from 138. If Bell was the chief culprit here, batting as if enjoying net practice to try and rediscover his touch, then there is no excuse for that sort of disparity. England were well short of expectation and left Scotland a glimmer of a chance.
At 201 for one, with Moeen going strong, the batting powerplay imminent, and the thunderbats waiting in the wings, the England innings promised and should have produced fireworks. Instead the crowd were given the dampest of squibs so that three wickets fell for two runs to stop the charge in its tracks, and seven wickets in all for 102 in a shade over 15 overs. While the eventual total ought to have been, and indeed was, a workable total, it fell disappointingly short of the 350 and more that was well within their compass at one time.
This takes nothing away from Moeen, who, where others, notably Bell, struggled to time the ball, did so with such sweetness that it might have stripped the enamel from his teeth. There was just the merest hint of a chance when he leathered one low to extra cover when seven, but that would have involved a very brave fielder risking the need for orthodontic reconstruction. It appeared to bother Moeen not a jot for he simply drove the ball through the offside and then lofted the first of his sixes, over long off.
He reached his 50 out of England’s 75, from only 39 balls, with six fours and two sixes, and if the Scotland bowlers managed to gain a little more control of him, he was still able to complete his century, with his fourth six, from 91 balls.
England had needed Moeen’s impetus for this was not a case of Bell, seeing his partner on a roll, giving him the strike and sitting back to enjoy the ride. Bell’s 54 was a scrappy innings, clogging up the works for 85 balls as he fluffed a series of pulls, and played and missed with regularity: he just could not get going but still managed to hang in. There was almost an air of relief when he drove firmly to extra cover.
The situation required Moeen to stay in, especially with the power play approaching, and Gary Ballance fresh to the crease (a chance offered and missed here for England to show some initiative and reassess their batting order). But while Ballance was busy trying to find his feet, Moeen smeared the slow loopy offspin of Majid Haq to deep midwicket. Ballance then chopped the first ball of the power play onto his stumps, and seven balls later, without further addition, Joe Root edged a decent delivery from Josh Davey to Matt Cross behind the stumps.
Scotland had come back well, and now there was some pressure on the England batting not to fold, while mindful of the scoring demands. Morgan and James Taylor added 49 busy runs in seven overs before Taylor was brilliantly stumped by Cross, having come down the pitch to Davey and missed a wide yorker. With five overs left, Morgan and Buttler had more licence, and four overs brought 45 runs before Buttler, hitting flat to long off, was well caught for 24. The final over saw both Morgan and Chris Woakes dismissed by successive balls from Davey, each steepling the ball in the direction of the captain Preston Mommsen who kept his nerve on both occasions.
