Moeen Ali: 'England were nervous in loss to Australia'

Moeen Ali has claimed that nerves played a big role in England's emphatic to defeat to Australia in their World Cup opener over the weekend.

England started their campaign with a 111-run loss to their Pool A rivals in Melbourne, and Ali believes that the inexperienced members of the squad may have struggled to handle the pressure on the opening day of the tournament.

"Maybe we were a little bit nervous on Saturday, it being such a big game, especially the new guys. A lot of us are probably not used to such games," the all-rounder is quoted as saying by The Mirror.

"If you look at the Australian side a lot of them play in big ­competitions with big crowds a lot of the time.

"If we can get everyone to chip in – rather than just one guy on a ­particular day – we will be just as dangerous as any other side."

England meet New Zealand in Wellington on Friday.