Moeen Ali blasts England’s second-quickest ODI ton off 53 balls as hosts rack up 369-9 against the West Indies
Windies forced to chase 370 at Bristol after Moeen's heroics, as he flew from 39 to 100 in just 14 balls, including eight sixes
MOEEN ALI blasted England’s second-quickest one-day international ton as the hosts racked up 369-9 against the West Indies at Bristol.
Coming in at No7, Moeen played confidently to reach 39 from just 39 balls.
But from there, the Worcestershire man teed off, blasted his next 61 runs off just 14 balls in a procession of huge, leg-side sixes.
All in all, Moeen thumped eight sixes and added seven further fours in his 102 – second only to Jos Buttler’s 46-ball ton in 2015 – as the Windies were forced to chase an unlikely 370.
Elsewhere, Joe Root reached a couple of milestones of his own in his ever-classy 84 from just 79 balls.
During the knock, the Test captain reached his 10,000 international run and also scored the most runs by any English batsman in a single summer.
He surpassed legendary Graham Gooch’s 1990 tally, while also becoming the fourth-fastest player to the 10,000-run tally, behind only Viv Richards, Hashim Amla and Brian Lara.
Ben Stokes also chipped in with a typically thunderous 73 from just 63 balls.
Alex Hales and Chris Woakes also chipped in to the monumental score, with 36 and 34 respectively.
Miguel Cummins was arguably the pick of the West Indies bowlers as he took three England wickets – those of Root, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler.
However, he leaked an astonishing 82 runs from just nine overs, with only one bowler going at under 6.6 runs per over as England racked up an incredible score.
In reply, the Windies lost an early wicket as Evin Lewis fell for a quickfire 13, having blasted two sixes, off the bowling of David Willey.
