Moeen Ali struck a century as England posted a target of 304 in this morning's must-win Cricket World Cup clash with Scotland in Christchurch.
Having lost both Pool A outings to Australia and New Zealand respectively, England went into the encounter knowing that victory was essential to preserving their hopes of progression.
They rose to the occasion, however, as Ali (128) and Ian Bell (54) helped Eoin Morgan's side post their best innings of the competition thus far - 303-8.
The English dominated early on and it was not until the 30th over, with 172 runs on the board, when Scotland could celebrate their first wicket as Majid Haq removed Ali.
Richie Berrington followed suit by dismissing Bell, while Gary Ballance (10) and Joe Root (1) also fell by the wayside after wickets from Alasdair Evans and Josh Davey.
The Scots finished the overs on a high, as Morgan (46) was denied a morale-boosting half-century by Davey, who took his fourth wicket to remove Chris Woakes (1) towards the end.
Shane Callaghan
