The best moment of the day came in the press conference of England’s captain Eoin Morgan after his team beat Scotland by 119 runs at Hagley Park in Christchurch. “It (win) gives guys a little bit of confidence, even the guys who didn’t perform today, that rubbing off or up against” Oops. “Sorry, that sounded terrible!”

There was another light-hearted moment, again nothing to do with cricket, but involving a streaker. Off he bounded into the field of play, and rushed along like Usain Bolt in the buff, before turning just near the pitch and dodging the security, ran up the hill beyond the boundary, bolted through to the batting nets area, and jumped a fairly high fence. Crowd loved the entire spectacle. He was eventually nabbed out in the park.

The actual cricket was quite dull. Yes Mooen Ali hit a hundred but the way England capitulated from 172 for 0 to 203 for 4 and eventually touching only 300, must have jolted the English fans, if not the team itself. Scotland’s captain Preston Mommsen did rub it in. Asked whether he sensed any apprehension and lack of confidence in English camp, he perked up: “Well, I think it showed once we got rid of Ian Bell there and Moeen Ali that they were pretty vulnerable in the middle there. We knew we could keep taking wickets and we did keep taking wickets which allowed us to restrict them to 300.”

Not being harsh on England who did wrap up a big win but somehow it wasn’t a kind of win that makes one say, ‘ok they seem to have turned around things’. It would have been interesting had Mooen Ali, on 7, was dropped at short cover off Josh Davey – a sharp chance but it just about dipped rapidly to the left and it was clanged.

For those who are interested in these sort of stuff, Scotland aren’t new to cricket. In fact the first “Scottish” team played in 1865 and in 1871, around 4000 people watched a game against All England XI and 11 years later, a Scottish team even beat Australia in a single-innings exhibition game. History records that the cricket was almost as popular as football and drew crowds as any other sport, barring horse racing. Of course, more than a century later, its popularity has considerably dipped and on Monday, they played like how England plays ODIs these days: a sense of dullness about them, except in that phase when they pulled back England after that frenetic start.

Checking run flow

Majid Haq did his bit during that phase, picking up a wicket that made him the highest wicket taker of Scotland in ODIs, and putting a stop on the run-flow. Even the chase had started brightly with the opener Kyle Coetzer, the former captain, blasting away. There were a couple of peachy on-the-up punches that would have gladded any top-order batsman. Alas, for Scotland, only Coetzer managed to turn up. It wasn’t that the rest were blown away off the park by some incisive bowling but there were too many soft wickets. Calum Macleod, son a keen club cricketer, charged at James Anderson, trying to heave him over cover, but nicked it behind. The captain himself top-edged a sweep to backward square-leg boundary and one by one they went down. Coetzer was the the fifth wicket to fall, at 122, after making a sweet 84-ball 71 with 11 fours. From then on, it was just a matter of time and Scotland folded up for 184 in the 43rd over.

Mommsen wasn’t sure what was going on: “It has been disappointing from a batting point of view. I can’t really say exactly what’s gone on there, a couple of guys not just getting in, and unfortunately when guys are getting in, not quite going on to get the big ones, which is fundamental to getting big scores. You know, there’s lots of small things that aren’t just quite clicking.” When even the full-member teams are struggling a touch in this World Cup, who can blame Scotland for not being quite up to it. As yet, at least.

Brief scores: England 303-8 (Moeen Ali 128, Ian Bell 54, Eoin Morgan 46; Josh Davey 4-68) def. Scotland 184 (Kyle Coetzer 71; Steve Finn 3-26, James Anderson 2-30, Moeen Ali 2-47) by 119 runs.