Moeen Ali helps England level T20I series against WI

By AFP

January 31, 2022

BRIDGETOWN: England stand-in skipper Moeen Ali smashed a blistering half-century and picked up two key wickets in the West Indies chase as his side squared the five-match Twenty20 series at 2-2 with a 34-run victory in the fourth game in Bridgetown.

Moeen (63), who was filling in for the injured Eoin Morgan, powered England to 193-6 on a slowish wicket at the Kensington Oval after some fine early work from Jason Roy (52) and James Vince (34).

The left-hander was particularly severe on Jason Holder (3-44), hitting the seamer for four consecutive sixes in the 18th over as he raced to his fifty in 23 balls.

“We started well at the top and finished really well. This is exactly what we want - to put the bowlers under pressure... I went from not being able to hit the ball and then a couple of shots, you get the momentum and you keep going,” said Moeen.

Brandon King (26) and Kyle Mayers (40) gave the hosts a fast start but the Windies momentum was halted by Moeen (2-28), who removed both openers before a wicket apiece for fellow spinners Adil Rashid (1-28) and Liam Livingstone (1-18) helped England home.

“It was a game of two halves. It spun in the night but did not do much when we were bowling,” said West Indies captain Kieron Pollard.

“We let it slip towards the back end. That’s the nature of T20 cricket, it takes only a couple of balls or hits to take the game away. They got the extra 20 runs to put the game beyond us.”

Score Board

West Indies won the toss

England Innings

Roy c †Pooran b Pollard 52

Banton c Mayers b Holder 4

Vince c Mayers b Hosein 34

Moeen (c) c Shepherd b Holder 63

Liam c King b Shepherd 16

Billings† not out 13

Salt c King b Holder 0

Jordan not out 0

Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 8) 11

Total: (20 Ov, RR: 9.65) 193/6

Did not bat: Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley

Fall: 1-8, 1.6 ov 2-93, 11.3 ov 3-97, 12.3 ov 4-162, 18.1 ov 5-180, 19.1 ov 6-181, 19.3 ov

Bowling: Sheldon Cottrell 4-0-34-0 Jason Holder 4-0-44-3 Romario Shepherd 3-0-40-1 Dominic Drakes 2-0-26-0 Akeal Hosein 3-0-23-1 Kieron Pollard 4-0-23-1

West indies Innings ( Target: 194 runs)

King c Salt b Ali 26

Mayers c Jordan b Ali 40

Pooran† c Roy b Livingstone 22

Powell b Rashid 5

Holder c Jordan b Topley 36

Pollard (c) not out 18

Bravo not out 3

Extras: (b 4, w 5) 9

Total: (20 Ov, RR: 7.95) 159/5

Did not bat: Romario Shepherd, Dominic Drakes, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell

Fall: 1-64, 7.2 ov 2-69, 9.1 ov 3-78, 10.4 ov 4-97, 13.3 ov 5-144, 17.2 ov