Scotland captain Preston Mommsen
AFP/Christchurch
Scotland were beaten but not bowed following their 119-run World Cup loss to England in Christchurch yesterday, with captain Preston Mommsen saying the result did not reflect the game.
Mommsen was disappointed with the batting effort from his lowly-ranked Scotland side after believing they were capable of winning the Pool A clash after restricting England to 303-8. Scotland have now lost both their opening games while England notched their first win with an innings built on a 172-run opening partnership between Moeen Ali and Ian Bell.
England’s batting fell away after their departure with the last 15 overs producing 102 runs for the loss of six wickets and that was how Mommsen preferred to remember the game. “I thought we did brilliantly to restrict them to only 300 with the platform they had and the batters they had to come,” he said.
“Once we got rid of Ian Bell and Moeen Ali they were pretty vulnerable in the middle and we knew we could keep taking wickets which allowed us to restrict them to 300. We went into that half-time break pretty confident we were in with a shout. It was a good wicket.”
But Scotland, an associate member of the International Cricket Council up against a senior Test-playing nation, put up their own brittle batting display. Opener Kyle Coetzer produced a bold 71 with Mommsen ‘s 26 the next best score, and only four batters reached double figures.
“I thought Kyle batted beautifully but with not enough support and not enough platform there to have a proper shot at that chase,” Mommsen said.
“Some of the dismissals were slightly disappointing. We had a bit more time than we thought in that chase and it’s quite a quick outfield there. We were looking for the 100-run partnership but unfortunately it wasn’t there for us.”
Although England wrapped up the game with more than seven overs to spare to maintain their unbeaten record over Scotland, Mommsen said the result did not reflect the narrowing margin between the cross-border rivals. “I wouldn’t think it’s that big. I’m very disappointed. We’re a better side than what we showed there today.”
