We’re privileged to have Moeen, says Morgan as England get off mark against Scotland

Opener Moeen Ali’s second one-day international century ensured that any threat of a slip-up in a match that loomed as a potential banana skin was quickly averted and helped settle an England side shaken by heavy back-to-back defeats to start their tournament.

“I don’t think there was ever a state of panic. We had two hard games and the fact we didn’t perform was disappointing,” said Morgan.

“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 (yesterday).

“Talking to guys who had a little bit of success (against Scotland) will be good for them.”

England’s first win at the tournament was built around Moeen’s 172-run opening partnership with Ian Bell.

The pair were hardly troubled as they broke the England opening partnership record at a World Cup – previously set at 158 by Dennis Amiss and Osset-born Barry Wood in 1975.

Scotland barely managed to better that in their reply, as they were bowled out for 184 in 42.2 overs and, after Moeen claimed two wickets to go with his 128 from 107 balls, Morgan revealed he felt “privileged” to be able to call on his match-winning potential.

“I rate him really highly. He’s an all-rounder that we haven’t had for a very long time,” he said.

“He’s somebody who opens the batting and plays in the fashion that he does and the purchase he gets on the ball. I think we are very privileged to have him.

“We certainly don’t undervalue him.”

England’s next move is to return to the scene of their humiliation at the hands of New Zealand with their match against Sri Lanka in Wellington on Sunday.

They will fly back to the New Zealand capital with a great deal more confidence, albeit having beaten a Scotland side still searching for their first World Cup win, after sticking with the same team that were blitzed by the Black Caps.

“We obviously considered it (making changes),” said Morgan.

“We came to the conclusion that we haven’t performed in the first two games so to argue the balance of the side was wrong, you couldn’t really do it because we hadn’t seen guys perform.

“I was very confident going into the first two games that we had the strongest side to win those games so by reinforcing that confidence with going in with the same team was very important.”

Steven Finn suffered a mauling at the hands of Brendon McCullum in Wellington, his two overs costing a remarkable 49 runs, but rewarded the faith kept in him with 3-26 from nine overs.

Morgan also enjoyed a profitable day, hitting 46 from 42 balls. His innings began as a slow burner, taking 10 balls to get off the mark as England lost direction around the batting powerplay.

England lost 3-2 at one stage, but the captain timed his late hitting precisely to drag the score beyond 300. “It’s nice to spend a bit of time at the wicket and get some runs given my run of low scores,” he added.

Scoreboard: Page 20.