Moeen Ali's ton powers England to their first win of World Cup 2015

Moeen Ali scored his second ODI ton to help England through to their first win of World Cup 2015, beating Scotland by an impressive 119 runs at Christchurch on Monday.

Scotland's captain Preston Mommsen won the toss and chose to bowl first, but his bowlers failed in their efforts to produce an early breakthrough. Ali and his opening-partner Ian Bell dropped anchor early-on and began to build a solid platform for a late onslaught.

Ali was the more fluent of the two and pierced the field with ease. His partner though found it difficult to mimic Ali's fluency.

Ali scored 50 from just 39 balls, whereas it took Bell 80 to reach the same landmark. The Ali-Bell combine helped their side reach 100 without the loss of a wicket.

When Bell departed in the 31st over for an 85-ball 54, Ali was on 108. The dismissal didn't affect Ali's momentum as he hit a six and three fours more, before he finally fell in the 35th over. England stood at 201 at that point.

Ali's boundary-studded innings put England on track for a mammoth total. But the other batsmen found it difficult to score at the rate that Ali had. Captain Eoin Morgan found some form and added 42 to the tally. England managed 303 in their 50 overs.

Scotland's batsmen found it difficult cope with England's experienced new-ball attack. They lost opener Callum Macleod in just the third over. Freddy Coleman and Matt Machan too failed in their efforts to match the ever-escalating run rate. At the 13 over mark, Scotland struggled at 54 for three.

Kyle Coetzer was their stand-out performer with the bat and top-scored with 71 from 84 balls. But his dismissal in the 27th over ended any hope that Scotland had of a recovery. They managed just 184 in reply.

"Nice to spend time in the middle and get through first 10 overs. It was not an easy pitch to start, takes a bit of time to play some shots but we did well to score over 300," Ali said. "At one time I thought of maybe 330-340 but it was not an easy pitch and at least we got 300. Nice to get a bit of form before the next match and hopefully I can continue it. Thank god for winning the game and hopefully we can win the next three in a row. Don't think I bowled that well today, haven't bowled for a couple of weeks in matches now."