Moeen Ali swings into the leg side © AFP
Innings break England 369 for 9 (Moeen 102, Root 84, Stokes 73, Cummins 3-82)
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Moeen Ali produced one of the most breathtaking batting assaults in international history, as a keenly contested innings was torn limb from limb in England’s final six overs of the third ODI at Bristol. As if crashing his way to a 53-ball fifty was not remarkable enough, he did so having first eased his way to a run-a-ball 39, as West Indies were left to chase a formidable 370 to stay in the series.
The sheer audacity of Moeen’s hitting is best expressed in pure numbers: 6, 6, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 4, 1, 6, 0, 6… a total of 61 runs, made up of eight sixes and two fours, in the space of 14 balls. It was his third ODI hundred, and the second-fastest in England’s history, as he rampaged to the second half of his century in an obscene 12 deliveries.
As the blows rained down, West Indies’ resolve went to pot – and it had been pretty resolute up to that point, with England forced twice to battle back from uncompromising scorelines – first through a 132-run stand between Joe Root and Ben Stokes that rescued them from 74 for 3, and then when Moeen and Chris Woakes came together at an awkward 217 for 6 in the 35th over.
But the ferocity of the dead-eyed Moeen ripped the contest from their clutches. His onslaught was triggered by the return to the attack of Miguel Cummins, who up to that point had been West Indies’ outstanding bowler with a haul of three prime wickets – namely Root, Alex Hales and the off-colour Jos Buttler. But Moeen cleared his front foot from the very first ball he received, battering him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his fifty from 41 balls.
And that was just the start. Another six from the final ball of Cummins’ over segued in three more in a row off Jason Holder, as West Indies conceded a grim 50 runs in two overs. Jerome Taylor might have ended the fun thereafter but Chris Gayle dropped a slashed cut at point with Moeen on 87, whereupon the hapless Cummins was slammed into the stands twice more in three balls to bring up a stunning milestone.
The final moments of Moeen’s innings had a touch of comedy about it as he was dropped twice in two balls by Ashley Nurse, the second an absolute howler off a top-edged slog, before picking out Jason Holder one ball later. Poor Nurse had already clung onto a blinder one over earlier, as he intercepted a scudding slog from Woakes to long-on, only to fling the ball over the boundary for six as his momentum took him over the rope.
It was all a far cry from the tentative beginnings to England’s innings. After being asked to bat first on an unnerving greeny-brown surface that Eoin Morgan hoped would “play better than it looks” (not half…), England’s openers struggled initially for timing. When Jonny Bairstow popped a leading edge back to Holder to fall for 13 – his lowest completed ODI innings in his last eight visits to the crease – England were 28 for 1 after six overs, and braced for an attritional afternoon.
Alex Hales, widely touted for an Ashes call-up and presented with one last opportunity to make an unanswerable case, 1990s NatWest Final-style, ahead of Wednesday’s squad announcement, showed flashes of his form in making 36 from 35 balls before being pinned lbw by Cummins, whereupon Morgan, bereft of runs in the course of his nomadic T20-led late-season, was done in first ball by Holder, a perfect lifter on off stump that kissed the edge of a tentative bat through to Shai Hope.
At 74 for 3, the innings was in the balance, but Stokes and Root were unruffled as they set about laying the groundwork for what would prove a monstrously successful rebuild. The mid-part of England’s innings was a display of easy accumulation against the twin spin attack of Devendra Bishoo – recalled in place of the injured Kesrick Williams – and Nurse, as Root, with a 41-ball fifty, once again showcased the brilliance of his all-round game, which has now earned him more than 10,000 runs in his international career.
As the 30th over approached, Root signalled a change-up in tempo with an emphatic slog-sweep for six over midwicket off Nurse, and Stokes was all too willing to take up the challenge, crashing Nurse for consecutive sixes down the ground to threaten carnage. However, Rovman Powell, sticking to his guns in a restrictive spell of seam-up, tempted Stokes into a rash swipe to deep point for 73, and when Cummins produced a snorter to tickle the off bail of Buttler, he followed up by luring Root into a loose waft across the line. It could have been a decisive intervention. Instead, it merely unleashed the fury of Mo.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo