England set Scotland target of 304 in ICC World Cup 2015 match at Christchurch

England have finished with a score of 303/8 in their quota of 50 over in a Pool A match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 against Scotland at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. With the exception of Moeen Ali, most England batsmen looked rather tied down and were unable to get the bowlers away for too many. LIVE UPDATES: England vs Scotland ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

Ali and Ian Bell opened for England and put up a great partnership putting 172 runs on the board for the opening stand before Bell got out for 54. The partnership happens to be the highest opening partnership for England in World Cups. Ali contributed to the partnership with exactly twice as many runs. After Bell’s wicket England seemed to lose their way a little. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE

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Ali fell to Majid Haq for 188 off 107 deliveries with England at 201. Gary Ballance who came in at number three simply couldn’t get going despite the fine platform laid by the batsmen and his struggle ended for a score of 10 from 18 balls, losing his wicket to Alasdair Evans. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS

Scotland’s seamers who looked out of sorts and bowled bad lines early in the innings came back hard after the fall of the openers. Josh Davey got the two wickets of Joe Root and James Taylor soon after. Root could only manage one run while Taylor scored 17 before falling to a good bit of stumping. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE

Towards the end of the innings skipper Eoin Morgan and wicket-keeper Jos Buttler added much needed impetus after a poor batting powerplay, which saw them lose two wickets and score just 22 runs. Buttler then got out after scoring 24 from 14 balls. FULL SCORECARD: England vs Scotland

Morgan got out in the final over of the innings becoming Davey’s third victim but scored a good 46 from 42 balls. At one time it lokked like England would even reach 350 but Scotland will take inspiration from the fact that they restricted them to less that 310. Woakes then went for a huge shot but only managed to mistime it and Davey got his fourth wicket.

Brief Scores:

England 303/8 in 50 overs (Moeen Ali 128, Ian Bell 54; Josh Davey 4 for 68)