England hoping Scotland victory can kickstart Cricket World Cup campaign

Moeen Ali hopes England's 119-run victory over Scotland can kick-start their World Cup ambitions.

The Worcestershire man hit his second ODI century, cracking 128 from 107 balls and also sharing a record opening stand of 172 with Ian Bell (54) to help England towards 303 for eight in Christchurch.

When asked during the post-match presentation what the mood was like in the camp, he said: “We just said thank god for winning the game and hopefully now we can get on a winning run and win the next three.”

Coming off the back of heavy defeats to both co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, the win takes England off the foot of Pool A and they now head to Wellington to face Sri Lanka next Sunday.

Moeen was happy with his efforts in his role as the aggressor with the bat, adding: “It was nice to just spend a bit of time out there, getting through the first 10 overs by being positive and then batting as normal as I could and being aggressive.”

But there was a nagging feeling that England failed to post the kind of total that was teed up by Moeen and Bell’s stellar opening stand, with them losing three for two at one stage.

Moeen admitted that he thought they would get more runs, but revealed conditions were tough to start out on so he was not surprised they fell just short of his initial expectations.

“There was a time where I thought maybe 330, 340, but then it was quite difficult when the guys were first coming in to bat. It wasn’t easy to hit with a bit of wind and stuff, but it was nice at least we got 300,” he told Sky Sports.

The 27-year-old also took two wickets for 47 runs as Scotland were skittled for 184, but he was less complimentary about his individual bowling display, adding: “I didn’t feel like I bowled that well today, it was okay, I’ve not bowled fr a couple of weeks now so it was just nice to get some wickets and bowl 10 overs.”