On the plus side for Eoin Morgan, his England squad now has a winning record at the World Cup against countries that are not hosting the tournament.
After heavy back-to-back losses to co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England were under intense pressure in their Pool A match against Scotland in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday.
Scotland had never beaten England in a one-day international, but were confident after giving New Zealand a scare and had no hesitation in sending England in to bat after winning the toss.
Photo: AFP
Moeen Ali came to the fore, scoring 128 and sharing a 172-run opening stand with Ian Bell, who scored 54, to set England on course for a big total of 303-8.
He picked up two wickets and Steve Finn recovered from the battering he took against New Zealand to take three for 26, as England bowled Scotland out for 184 in 42.2 overs to secure a 119-run victory.
“I don’t think there was ever a state of panic,” said Morgan, who ended his own lean streak with the bat by scoring 46 from 42 deliveries. “Obviously, we had two hard games and the fact that we didn’t perform was most disappointing, but a win just puts things a little more at ease. It gives guys a little bit of confidence, even the guys who didn’t perform today will benefit from guys who have had a little bit of success today.”
England lost to Australia by 111 runs in Melbourne on the first day of the tournament, then slumped to an eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand on Friday last week after they were bundled out for 123 — the Black Caps needing only 12 overs to reach the victory target.
England had some wobbles against Scotland, with Ali, Gary Ballance (10) and Joe Root (1) all dismissed within the space of 10 balls, but Morgan held the lower order together with partnerships of 49 with James Taylor (17) and 45 with Jos Buttler (24) until he was dismissed in the last over.
Scotland started confidently in reply, with South African-born opener Kyle Coetzer making 71 runs and hitting 11 boundaries, but the loss of early wickets derailed the run chase.
“We’re very disappointed,” Scotland captain Preston Mommsen said. “We went into the halftime break pretty sure we were in with a shout. Unfortunately, with the bat we just couldn’t get going. We’re a better side than we showed today.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
RSS