Ali century sets up comfortable England win

CHRISTCHURCH — England completed a clinical 119-run victory over Scotland in its cricket World Cup Pool A match at Hagley Oval on Monday to record its first win in the tournament.

After they were crushed in their opening games by co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England posted 303 for eight after being asked to bat then dismissed Scotland for 184 from 47.2 overs on a day which began under dark clouds and concluded in bright sunshine.

Moeen Ali (128) produced a stream of delightful drives to reach his second One-Day International (ODI) century and shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ian Bell (54) to give England a grip on that match it was never to relinquish.

Although wickets fell regularly after their departures, captain Eoin Morgan at last found some form to strike 46 with four boundaries and two sixes and guide his team past the 300 mark.

Left-hander Ali was in prime form from the outset, driving the ball fluently through the off-side and punishing any short-pitched deliveries with some booming pulls.

He reached his century from 91 deliveries with his fourth six of the innings, lofting off-spinner Majid Haq high over mid-wicket.

Bell, who had been content to rotate the strike to give Ali the bowling, fell in the following over when he pushed a simple catch to Kyle Coetzer at cover from the bowling of Richie Berrington.

Ali pulled a fifth six into the crowd but then lofted Haq straight to Freddie Coleman at long-on.

After the interval, England’s pace attack, which had been slaughtered by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in Wellington last Friday, took control.

Opener Kyle Coetzer took two boundaries off James Anderson’s opening over and continued to drive and cut confidently to reach his half-century off 64 balls.

Runs dried up at the other end against disciplined bowling and his dismissal for 71 with 11 boundaries was the beginning of the end.

Ali took two for 47 from 10 overs, bowling in tandem with another occasional off-spinner Joe Root, as the wickets fell and the required run rate rose.

Finn, who was smashed for 49 from two overs in the humiliating loss to New Zealand last Friday, returned to help clean up the tail. He finished with three for 26 from nine overs.

Ready to fire up

Despite a poor start to the World Cup and eight innings since his last ODI half-century, West Indies opener Chris Gayle is “awake” and ready to fire up the Caribbeans with a big score, according to captain Jason Holder.

Gayle managed a scratchy 36 from 65 balls in the opening loss to Ireland and scored four in Saturday’s big win over Pakistan.

Though the win over Pakistan was a relieving return to form for the under-pressure islanders, Gayle’s second World Cup failure overshadowed it, with board president Dave Cameron re-tweeting a post from a Twitter user suggesting the 35-year-old should quit.

“Gayle goes... Can’t buy a run. Let’s give him a retirement package... Can’t fail repeatedly and still front up based on reputation,” read the post, re-tweeted by Cameron during play.

Cameron later tweeted an apology but it did little to dismiss the impression that tensions still exist between players and administrators months after a contracts dispute scuppered a lucrative tour of India.

Given the hard-hitting Gayle has not scored a one-day century in 19 innings, his last coming in mid-2013, the tweet may have had some currency among West Indies fans.

On the eve of West Indies’ third World Cup match against Zimbabwe in Canberra, Holder said he was “fully confident” the opener was primed to turn things around.

“Chris is awake. I can assure you he’s awake. He was awake from the beginning of the tournament,” Holder told reporters at Manuka Oval.

“Every time I see Chris Gayle, I expect to see one Chris Gayle, and that’s a positive Chris Gayle.

“Although he hasn’t been getting runs, we still have a lot of confidence in him. I just hope that he can come tomorrow and just get us in and just take it as deep as possible for us.”

West Indies’ top order has failed in both World Cup matches, but the team has still posted 300-run scores due to rescue efforts by the middle order.

West Indies has won its last seven matches against Zimbabwe and should be too strong for the Africans at Manuka Oval if its batsmen and bowlers gel.

“I think we still have room for improvement,” fast bowler Holder said.

“If we can get a few more contributions going deeper into the innings in terms of the top order, I think we can get close to 350 plus, and I think that is not beyond us because of our firepower in the middle and the end.”