Wobbly win for England against toothless Scots
After two humiliating defeats, England's cricketers recorded their first win of the World Cup – in unconvincing style
They can be cruel, those Australian newspapers. "Another World Cup upset!" screamed the homepage of the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday. "England win."
Then again, who can honestly say that their mockery is misplaced? England's cricketers suffered two calamitous defeats in their opening World Cup matches Down Under so when they took on Scotland in Christchurch on Sunday night a victory was by no means guaranteed.
Indeed, nothing is certain with this England team save for the fact that they will always make life difficult for themselves. They managed that even against Scotland, recording an unconvincing win that involved another world famous collapse.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Moeen Ali and Ian Bell shared an opening stand of 172 with the former dominating the partnership, cracking a superlative 128 in 107 balls. But when Moeen fell with the score on 201 for 1, England failed to kick on, losing six wickets for 102 runs to finish on 303 for 8 in their 50 overs against the lowest-ranked one-day international side in Pool A.
Only captain Eoin Morgan made a worthwhile score, the Irishman smashing two sixes and four fours in a quickfire 46. Elsewhere, however, Gary Ballance, Jos Buttler and James Taylor fall failed again, the trio managing just 51 runs between them.
Thankfully for England, Scotland were incapable of mounting a serious challenge to the total and were bowled out for 184 with only Kyle Coetzer offering any resistance with an innings of 71.
It was Scotland's 10th defeat in as many World Cup matches – meaning they now share with Holland the record as the worst side in the tournament's history – and they remain without a win against a Test-playing side.
Although most of the England bowlers got among the wickets, Steven Finn was the pick of the attack, the Middlesex paceman taking 3 for 26 in his nine-over spell. Those figures were in marked contrast to the humiliating hammering he endured against New Zealand on Friday when he was smashed for 49 runs in his two overs.
Yet despite the size of the victory – it was their biggest winning margin in a World Cup match since they thrashed East Africa by 196 runs in 1975 – England don't look like a side capable of lifting the title.
Nonetheless, modern cricket is all about taking positives as well as wickets, and Eoin Morgan was a relieved man following the result. "The win means we are more at ease with ourselves and there's more confidence … even among those who didn't perform," he said of his team, whose next opponents are Sri Lanka on Sunday.
"We want more consistency and to be ruthless and simple in how we approach things," was Morgan's response when asked what England must do to beat the 2011 runners-up.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - November 3, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - presidential pitching, wavering convictions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
What's wrong with Pakistan's cricket team?
Under the Radar Dramatic downfall of previous powerhouse blamed on poor management and appointments of regime favourites at governing body PCB
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Graham Thorpe obituary: 'chameleon' batsman with 100 England caps
In depth Cricketer's 'bottle in abundance' endeared him to fans
By The Week UK Published
-
Cricket is swiftly becoming America's new obsession
In the Spotlight Team USA recently shocked the world by beating Pakistan in the Men's World Cup
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'Drunken hooligans': America's cricket fears
Why Everyone's Talking About South Asian community 'energised' by sport's growing popularity in US but some locals oppose new stadiums
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Ashes: can England mount a glorious comeback?
feature ‘Herculean’ task follows ugly scenes at controversial second test
By The Week Staff Published
-
English cricket is ‘racist, sexist and elitist’, says independent report
Speed Read Chair of governing body apologises after crushing indictment of the sport ‘at all levels’
By Rebekah Evans Published
-
England are the ‘undisputed kings’ of white-ball cricket
feature Ben Stokes scored the winning run as England beat Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final
By Mike Starling Published
-
Ben Stokes and England set up a ‘grand finale’ against South Africa
feature In an old-school Test victory at Old Trafford, England’s captain scored a century and took four crucial wickets
By The Week Staff Published