ENGLAND VS SCOTLAND CRICKET WORLD CUP 2015: Moeen Ali stars but Eoin Morgan's side unconvincing despite victory

·                                 England beat Scotland by 119 runs to win World Cup tie in Christchurch 

·                                 Moeen Ali hits 128 in score of 303-8 and takes two wickets for 47

·                                 Steven Finn impressive with the ball but England's batting lacks fluency

·                                 Ian Bell looked curiously out of touch in an unconvincing win for England

By PAUL NEWMAN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 05:25 GMT, 23 February 2015 | UPDATED: 13:27 GMT, 23 February 2015

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Well, it’s a start but it was not exactly a performance to strike fear into the hearts of the leading contenders for this World Cup.

For now England will be relieved to have finally got off the mark in this tournament here at the Hagley Oval and avoided the fierce opprobrium that defeat by Scotland would have inevitably brought.

Yet deep down they will surely know that there will have to be a vast improvement on this 119-run victory if they are to ensure they get out of their group let alone become credible challengers for their first 50-over trophy.

On the face of it a score of 303 for eight followed by a bowling display that restricted the Scots to 184 should represent a job fairly well done.

It is just that, with the exception of an excellent all-round performance from Moeen Ali, too few England players could be satisfied with their contribution.

Specifically, England must look at how they let a score in excess of 350 slip out of their fingers when they were perfectly placed at 172 without loss from 30 overs to inflict carnage on their neighbours.

Moeen should be exempt from criticism. First he played with class and an improved shot selection to hit his second one-day international century and dominate England’s largest opening partnership in any World Cup.

Then he again showed that he is a worthy first-choice spinner by taking two wickets, including the crucial one of Kyle Coetzer who had given the Group A minnows a glimmer of hope with his 71.

Other than that this was a display from England that betrayed the nerves and anxiety that are perhaps inevitable after the sheer scale of their defeats by two of the strongest teams in the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

Too many batsmen appeared to be playing with a fear of failure when they had the perfect platform and opposition accommodating enough to have put on a show worthy of the aggressive intent they have vowed to produce.

Instead a tone was set by Ian Bell, who looked curiously out of touch after starting this tour in such vintage form that it appeared incredible he had been missing from the top of England’s one-day order for so long.

Here Bell limped along to 54 from 85 balls and was only rescued by the fluency and style displayed at the other end by Moeen, who passed 50 for the first time in 12 one-day internationals and went on to hit five sixes in his 128.

For a while it seemed that Moeen was destined to race past Robin Smith’s long-standing record England one-day score of 167 and had he done so then his team would surely have got close to 400 against a modest Scotland attack.