Highlights
- Moeen Ali's 16 ball 50 is the fastest by any English batsman
- England's 234 run is the their second highest T20I score
- Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow had a stand of 106 runs
Bristol| After the retirement of cricketing icons Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan, the fate of English cricket has taken a huge hit. When England met India earlier this month on their home turf for the T20I series, they looked extremely dismal and clueless with their batting approach. They tried to persist with their attacking style of play but somehow looked in disarray when things got tough for them. India took the aggressive route, similar to what Eoin Morgan had established for England and this left the hosts clueless. England lost the T20I series by 2-1 but India piled up the pain on the hosts as they inflicted a 2-1 defeat in the ODI series too.
Things looked even dismal for England when the South African tour started, with Ben Stokes announcing retirement from ODI cricket, the rest of the English batting failed to deliver and the Proteas handed over a heavy defeat to England with questions being asked from all corners of the cricketing world. When England met South Africa for the second ODI, they made sure that they return the favor as they crushed the visitors. To England's respite, the final ODI was called off which left the series hanging in the balance.
Come the T20Is, it looks as if the English team has brought their best back into the game. Even after the recent debacles against India and South Africa, they have persisted with their attacking style of gameplay, the style that has made England, the dominant white ball side that they are. Buttler opened with Jason Roy who is struggling with his bad run and is failing with every passing game. With Roy falling to Ngidi, Buttler took the onus upon himself and scored a quickfire 22 off 7 deliveries before falling. After Buttler's wicket, Dawid Malan walked in and kept the tempo going by scoring 43 off 23 deliveries. Malan couldn't bat longer and his stay was shortened by Phehlukwayo.
The scenario completely changed when Moeen Ali joined Jonny Bairstow who is having the summer of his life. Along with Bairstow Moeen Ali stitched a partnership of 106 runs. In the process, Ali scored a swashbuckling 50 off 16 deliveries. Moeen Ali now holds the record of scoring the fastest 50 by any English player. He overtook Livingstone's record of scoring 50 in 17 deliveries.
In his exploits, Ali struck 2 fours and 6 sixes and scored his quota of 52 runs at a strike rate of 288.89
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Rilee Rossouw, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller(c), Tristan Stubbs, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
England (Playing XI): Jos Buttler(w/c), Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Richard Gleeson, Reece Tople
