That was Moeen’s third game as England captain, his first win, his first fifty and his first wickets. The performance with everything.
And that’s it from me. Thanks for your company and your correspondence, and do come back tomorrow evening (from 7pm) when Tanya Aldred will be here to talk us through the denouement of a very satisfying series.
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Heeeere’s Moeen. Sure enough, he’s the player of the match. “I thought we were outstanding today,” he says. “Batted well at the top and the last four overs. Bowled brilliantly throughout – Rash, Toppers with the new ball...” Asked about his own knock, he says he didn’t feel he started well. “I went from not being able to hit the ball, and then, couple of shots, you get a bit of momentum and you keep going with that.” A caption shows that he faced just 28 balls – seven of them dots, seven sixes. Symmetry in motion.
West Indies lost fewer wickets than England, but they paid the price for seizing up in the middle of their innings. England had their own bad patches – the first four overs of their innings (15-1) and the first seven of West Indies’ reply (63-0), but you don’t have to play well for all 20 overs – you just need one class act, sparkling with both bat and ball. It couldn’t happen to a more elegant player.
England win by 34 runs! And it's 2-2
20th over: West Indies 159-5 (Pollard 18, Bravo 3) Reece Topley does his best to bowl a no-ball, with a waist-high full toss, but it’s not given. The batters settle for some batting practice, and the series goes all the way to a decider tomorrow. Well played England. Cometh the hour, cometh the Mo.
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19th over: West Indies 156-5 (Pollard 17, Bravo 1) Darren Bravo has not only been demoted this evening: he’s now stuck at the non-striker’s end as his captain turns down a single. Ouch! Pollard, to be fair, justifies his own faith by whipping Jordan’s yorker for four and slogging a slower ball (I think) for four more as Roy misses a tough chance in the deep. West Indies need 38 off the last over; England just need to bowl six legitimate deliveries.
“Livingstone, I presume,” says the subject of an email from my colleague Philip Cornwall. “Your reference reminded me of this classic from Vic Marks, getting the whole thing in when previewing a 2017 ODI series with Ireland: ‘Rashid and Moeen remain fragile assets and would welcome the reassuring presence of Saqlain as their spin doctor. Livingstone, I presume, may well get his chance later in the year if he maintains his stunning start to the season.’” Superb.
18th over: West Indies 145-5 (Pollard 8, Bravo 0) So Topley becomes the first England seamer to take a wicket tonight. He celebrates by trying to grab a run-out with his feet, for the second time in the series, but this time he finds the side netting. Not to worry: only five off the over! West Indies need 49 off the last two. Not even England can allow that, can they?
Wicket! Holder c Jordan b Topley 36 (West Indies 144-5)
Holder manages one more four, only to perish trying to hit a six. He was good, but not quite good enough.
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17th over: West Indies 140-4 (Holder 32, Pollard 7) Jordan is back, still going well – mostly singles, partly thanks to some electric fielding from Livingstone on the midwicket boundary – the right man in the right place. He’s such a good all-round cricketer. West Indies need 18 an over.
“Still chuckling,” says Brian Withington, “at your Warnistic reference to Rashid being all over the batters ‘like a cheap soup’. Does make me wonder in passing what constitutes an expensive soup though? I do recall as a student ordering a Vichyssoise in a rather nice French restaurant (it was the era of full grants) and naively (but politely) asking in vain if it could be heated up …” Ha. And ah yes, full grants. We didn’t know how lucky we were.
16th over: West Indies 133-4 (Holder 29, Pollard 3) Holder is still going well, hitting Tymal Mills for four, straight as an arrow, and then for six to cow corner. After making three off his first ten balls, Holder has 26 off his last nine. Mills strikes back with a fine slower ball, inducing a pop up in the air, but it plops down in no-man’s-land. West Indies need 61 off 24 balls. It’s still just about feasible.
15th over: West Indies 119-4 (Holder 17, Pollard 2) Jason Holder needs to get going – and he does. As Rashid returns for his final over, Holder goes six, dot, six, wide, one. A single for Pollard, before Holder miscues but gets away with it, taking another single. That’s 16 off the over, yet Rash still finishes with one for 28. And so to the death, with West Indies needing 75 at 15 an over. That would have been absurd eight days ago – now, not so much.
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14th over: West Indies 103-4 (Holder 3, Pollard 1) Pooran had just got going – pulling Livingstone for six, slog-sweeping for six more. But then he became the fourth wicket out of four to fall to spin. England have read this pitch much better than their opponents. I wonder if Joe Root is tuning in?
“BBC are reporting 7 sixes for Moeen,” says Panu Long. “Guardian has it down as 8 maximums. Who (understandably) lost count?” I did! Sorry, corrected now.
Wicket! Pooran c Roy b Livingstone 22 (West Indies 97-4)
Another one! Pooran miscues a big hit and Roy takes a fine diving catch at long-on.
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13th over: West Indies 84-3 (Pooran 10, Holder 2) Moeen is now so confident that he’s prepared to bring back one of his seamers. It’s Jordan, and he’s on the spot this time with his yorkers and slower balls. Have West Indies given up? They need 110 off seven overs.
12th over: West Indies 81-3 (Pooran 8, Holder 1) Moeen brings on his third spinner – Mr Livingstone, I presume. He bowls off-breaks like Mo, and leg-breaks like Rash, and his over goes for only three. West Indies need a very big over, followed by seven more. The last boundary was 35 balls ago.
11th over: West Indies 78-3 (Pooran 6, Holder 0) Kieron Powell has sent out Jason Holder, to redeem himself after going for those four successive sixes. Suddenly the required rate is above 13 and England’s chances of a win on CricViz are 90 per cent.
Wicket!! POWELL b Rashid 5 (West Indies 78-3)
The big one! As so often, it’s hero to zero as Powell is baffled by Rashid’s googly and bowled through the gate.
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10th over: West Indies 76-2 (Pooran 5, Powell 4) In the last game Pooran and Rovman Powell put on 122. If they do that again here, and someone else can hit a four, they’ll win the series. And they’ve seen off Moeen, who finishes with two for 28 from his four overs. At the halfway stage, West Indies need 118.
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Wicket! King c Salt b Ali 26 (West Indies 69-2)
Another one! Moeen gets the wicket, as King holes out to cow corner, but Rash gets the credit for smothering both batters in the previous over.
9th over: West Indies 69-1 (King 26, Pooran 3) England have already bowled two more overs of spin than West Indies did (5-3). Moeen keeps Rashid on and he’s all over the batters, as Shane Warne once said, like a cheap soup. Three off the over: the tide has turned.
8th over: West Indies 66-1 (King 24, Pooran 2) So Moeen, I think you could say, is leading from the front here. Nicholas Pooran, so good the other night, strokes a nice two but that’s an outstanding over – only three from it.
Wicket!! Mayers c Jordan b Moeen 40 (West Indies 64-1)
Got him! Moeen brings himself back, bowls a super-slower ball and lures Mayers into picking out Chris Jordan at long-off.
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7th over: West Indies 63-0 (King 23, Mayers 40) It’s Adil time! He’ll calm things down, surely – nope, King sees a googly and helps it round the corner for four. Rashid replies with a beauty, a flighted leg-break, drifting past the outside edge. Facing the explosive Mayers for the first time, Rashid drops too short, gets pulled hard, but is saved from another four by a fearless dive from James Vince. Seven off the over: a relative triumph for the bowler.
6th over: West Indies 56-0 (King 18, Mayers 38) Chris Jordan comes on and ... bowls wide! King slaps him for four to bring up West Indies’ fifty off only 31 balls. And then another four, a jump-cut – first a jump, then a cut. Jordan, like Mills, shows some resilience, conceding just a single off the other four balls. The cameras find Jofra Archer, looking pensive. And the PowerPlay ends, with West Indies going great guns but England still fancying their chances.
5th over: West Indies 47-0 (King 9, Mayers 38) If there’s one thing you don’t want to do on this pitch, it’s bowl wide. Tymal Mills comes on and does just that. Mayers says thank you very much, lofting him for four over point and six over third man. Mills has bowled two balls and gone for ten! He has to bowl straighter now – and he does, so Mayers flicks him for six more. That’s 25 off five balls for Mayers! But Mills fights back, beating him with a slower something-or-other, and adding two more dots. That takes character.
4th over: West Indies 31-0 (King 9, Mayers 22) Moeen keeps himself on and has a couple of moral victories, only to see Mayers thwack him against the spin over long-on for six. Mayers follows up with a deft cut for three into the gap at cover. He’s threatening to go the full Rovman.
3rd over: West Indies 21-0 (King 8, Mayers 13) These two seem more interested in singles than some West Indies openers you could mention. We’ve had seven of them already... but then Mayers hooks Topley for four! needing a retort, Topley produces a better bouncer, which Mayers misses. But this is a promising start.
2nd over: West Indies 14-0 (King 6, Mayers 8) Moeen fancies this one: not content with playing a great little innings, he’s now opening the bowling. He begins by beating Mayer all ends up with a big turner but then gets mown himself, for four. No dramas for the rest of the over. Not often you can say that in this game.
1st over: West Indies 6-0 (King 5, Mayers 1) It’s Reece Topley, so impressive in this series though not quite on the spot here as an attempted yorker turns into a full toss, driven for four by Brandon King. The new batter, the left-handed Kyle Mayers, gets a nick but it’s a thick one, flying safely down to third man.
Well that was an innings of a few chapters. England started slowly, rallied as Jason Roy got going, slumped again – and then Moeen went gently ballistic, making his fastest fifty in T20 internationals, caressing sixes in all directions. Jason Holder was a giant at the start (2-0-3-1) and a patsy by the end (2-0-41-2). I think England are ahead of the game, on a tacky surface, but who knows?
England finish on 193 – with two more sixes
20th over: England 193-6 (Billings 13, Jordan 0) Billings is fuming at not being given a wide as a bouncer from Holder sails over his head. He takes it out on the next ball, hooking for six, and the one after – belting it straight, the drop-kick for six more. That’s the finish this innings needed.
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Wicket! Salt c King b Holder 0 (England 181-6)
And another! Salt attacks from ball one and this time he perishes to it, chipping a slower ball into the covers.
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Wicket! Moeen c Shepherd b Holder 63 (England 180-5)
Mo is caught in the deep. Seven sixes and out! Now that’s what I call a captain’s innings.
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19th over: England 180-4 (Moeen 63, Billings 0) Why Billings is out there, ahead of the scintillating Salt, is anyone’s guess. But Moeen is still in the mood: a tuck for two to reach fifty off only 23 balls, a swing for six! He’s only hit one four so far. Shepherd’s only answer is to bowl wider still and wider – three wides in the over. then there’s a full toss: six more! That’s Moeen’s eighth six, and 18 off the over.
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Wicket! Livingstone c King b Shepherd 16 (England 162-4)
Livingstone, reduced to a spectator, tries to join in but slices into the stratosphere. “Scunged it,” says Mark Butcher. (Rhymes with lunged.)
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Moeen goes mowing!
18th over: England 162-3 (Moeen 48, Livingstone 16) Back comes Jason Holder, the bowler of the series so far. Mo cuts for two, then mows for six! And again! That was superb, down the track, dead straight, half Morgan, half Gower. And yet again! Over extra-cover. Mo at his Mo-est. And another one! Flicked over square leg. Six, six, six, six! It’s the mildest of massacres.
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17th over: England 134-3 (Moeen 20, Livingstone 16) Sheldon Cottrell is back, itching to give that salute of his, not succeeding but managing to keep the scoreboard down to singles and finishing with 0-34. This time there is a wide, not half as wide as the non-wide in the previous over. Moeen mistimes another one, innocuously. The pitch is showing signs of weariness: if it was a person, it would be Sam Billings, bouncy but knackered.
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16th over: England 129-3 (Moeen 18, Livingstone 14) Livingstone has reached the moment of truth: hit out or get out. He sees this, spots Pollard’s slow bouncer, and nails it, out of the ground for six. To show that he’s not just a blaster, he brushes a fuller ball for two. Then he goes back to brute force, can’t time it and settles for a single. Moeen mistimes it too, for once, but picks up two as he goes nice and straight. And then one of the widest wides you’ve ever seen is not called a wide! Perhaps because Mo wandered out to inspect it. Eleven off the over, which is handy, but England need a big one.
15th over: England 118-3 (Moeen 16, Livingstone 5) Health is one thing, form another. Livingstone, facing Hosein, hurls himself into a reverse sweep and can’t get so much as an edge. And the same again! Which at least brings a bye. Something needs to be done, so Moeen slog-sweeps... for six!
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14th over: England 109-3 (Moeen 9, Livingstone 4) The even better news is that Liam Livingstone, who’s been unable to eat for much of the tour because of his oesophagitis, is looking himself again. Meanwhile Moeen is facing Pollard, who’s got him out twice in the series at a personal average of 8. Mo is understandably watchful. Pollard and Jason Holder have 2-15 off five overs between them; the other seamers have 0-77 off seven.
13th over: England 103-3 (Moeen 7, Livingstone 1) Well bowled Akeal Hosein, who has troubled Vince before. The bad news is that England have thrown away a dominant position. The good news is that Moeen and Livingstone have a bit of time to play with. Mo plays a lovely lofted sweep, over the man at short fine leg.
Wicket! Vince c Mayers b Hosein 34 (England 97-3)
Noooo! James Vince, you need to stay there now, anchor the innings – not chase a wide one and chop it straight to backward point! Live by the flash, die by the flash.
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12th over: England 96-2 (Vince 34, Moeen 2) So one captain strikes and the other comes out. Moeen has two ducks inn this series, not that that’ll bother him. He gets a bouncer first ball and hooks it for a gentle single, as if playing in the back garden with a small nephew.
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Wicket! Roy c Pooran b Pollard 52 (England 93-2)
The breakthrough! A crafty cutter, a thick nick, a simple catch, and West Indies have the wicket they needed – and most wanted.
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11th over: England 93-1 (Roy 52, Vince 33) Romario Shepherd is back, going round the wicket, trying to go wide of Roy’s off stump but only succeeding in dishing up two wides. When he goes wide-ish, Roy takes a single and Vince plays his best shot so far, a deliberate slice past the cover sweeper. Shepherd recovers to string together three dots, before Vince square-slices another two. The commentators are not sure about the pitch: “a bit tacky,” says one. In which case England have done extremely well to make 78 off the last seven overs.
10th over: England 84-1 (Roy 51, Vince 27) In the face of this sudden fusillade, who can Kieron Pollard turn to? Himself. He bowls very straight, into the pitch as the players say, and manages to restore order – it’s all ones and dots and the odd leg-bye. But at drinks, in gentle sunshine, England may just have their noses in front.
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Fifty to Roy!
9th over: England 80-1 (Roy 50, Vince 25) And now Vince comes to the party, clouting Drakes back over his head for six. That’s one way to get past the dreaded 18. Roy sees that and raises him a flat slog-sweep for six more, which takes him to a punchy fifty off only 34 balls. There are plenty of runs in this bouncy surface: the question is whether the spinners can slow things down.
8th over: England 65-1 (Roy 44, Vince 16) As Akeal Hosein starts the first over of spin, Roy takes a single and brings up the fifty partnership in no time (aka 32 balls). Roy goes leg side and whips Hosein through point, so hard that the sweeper can’t get there. His 44 is almost the highest score made by one of England’s senior players in the series – only Banton and Salt have reached fifty.
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7th over: England 57-1 (Roy 39, Vince 14) On comes Dominic Drakes, looking the part – he walks with a strut and bowls with a high arm action. He troubles both batsmen, deceiving Roy with a slower ball and luring Vince into another rash slash, but he gets no reward – in fact Roy’s shot goes for four and Vince’s for six, just over third man. Harsh. And England have amassed 42 off the last three overs.
Drakes’ dad Vasbert, by the way, is now coaching Barbados (men), not West Indies (women). I wonder if he calls his dad “Manager”, as Alec Stewart used to do.
6th over: England 45-1 (Roy 34, Vince 7) Cottrell has 0-29 from there overs, Holder 1-3 from two – so Holder is taken off. As Romario Shepherd comes on, Roy goes on making whoopee, squirting a wide ball for four through the non-existent slips. That’s 22 off the last eight balls. Shepherd gets the plug in – dot, one, one – but then Roy goes inside-out for another six. As the PowerPlay ends, honours are about even and all the power has come from Roy.
5th over: England 32-1 (Roy 23, Vince 5) Vince gets some width from Cottrell and flashes over backward point for four. Give him a cordon, Kieron! When he takes a single, Roy misses out on a wide one and says, very audibly, “Fuck”. It does the trick: he plays a lovely late cut, of the evening so far, followed by a chip onto the green for two. He’s away! The last ball is flicked onto the roof of the Greenidge-Haynes stand. Game on.
“I noticed the other day IN THIS VERY PAPER,” says Pete Salmon, “that Moeen said he is ‘always ready to captain teams’. Is this a pitch for the Test job do you think? And if so, would there ever be a more glorious thing for the followers of OBO than this?
“Every problem that bedevils English cricket would be gone at a stroke. We’d have our number six batsman. We’d have our spinner. We’d have our best batsman full of schoolboy energy like in the olden times. And most of all we’d have our sense of wonder back. Please make it happen.” I couldn’t possibly comment.
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4th over: England 15-1 (Roy 11, Vince 0) Roy gets a thigh-high full toss from Holder and does well to swat it behind square for two. He’s jumping round the crease but Holder is equal to it, aiming for his feet then rapping him on the box. “I think that’s hit him,” says Harmison, “in the unquestionables.” An idiom is born.
3rd over: England 13-1 (Roy 9, Vince 0) Another cover drive from Roy off Cottrell, sweeter than the first. James Vince swishes and misses, then nicks and sees it drop short of the keeper. There’s no slip for him, when there should be at least two. This is such a big moment for him: England need Vince the centurion from the summer, not Vince the maker of endless elegant 18s, who seems to have made a comeback since.
2nd over: England 8-1 (Roy 4) That swing is there for Jason Holder, who gets just enough shape to beat Roy outside off. Next ball, Roy chips it straight it back and is dropped by Holder. It’s already a good over, four dots and a single, and it gets a whole lot better as Banton departs. West Indies on top already.
Wicket! Banton c Mayers b Holder 4 (England 8-1)
Banton picks the wrong ball to charge, gets it on the splice and dishes up a dolly to deep mid-on.
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1st over: England 7-0 (Roy 3, Banton 4) So West Indies lose a review and Roy, who had been watchful, celebrates his reprieve by cover-driving Cottrell for three. Steve Harmison, commentating, notes that there was a lot of swing for Reece Topley in the warm-ups. Tom Banton gives a big fat nick, second ball, head height, but there’s no slip! And it goes too fast for Nicholas Pooran, taking over as the keeper, to move.
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Not out!
Bouncing well over the leg stump.
Review!
For lbw against Roy, who got a long way across his stumps...
The players are out there and Jason Roy is waiting to face Sheldon Cottrell.
Ali Martin retweets a comment from Kerry O’Keeffe, now a veteran among Aussie commentators. “Having Sunday breakfast,” O’Keeffe writes, “brie , strawberries , crisp bread and a short black coffee…” It does get better, eventually. “Watching @FoxCricket highlights of Heather Knight century… thru extra cover front foot…forward of mid wicket front foot…on a pitch with nibble..bliss…”
Meanwhile Phil Salt is talking to Mark Butcher, saying his debut fifty would have meant more if it had brought a win. Heather Knight may be saying something similar tomorrow after her monumental 168 not out.
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And yes, Dominic Drakes is the son of Vasbert, who played Tests and ODIs for West Indies either side of the millennium and is now coaching West Indies’ women’s team. Dominic, like his dad, is a Bajan fast bowler, but left-arm rather than right. He’s played just three T20 internationals, taking two for 114. Things can only get better.
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Those teams in full
West Indies also make two changes. The misfiring Shai Hope makes way for Kyle Mayers at the top of the order, and among the bowlers Dominic Drakes comes in for Fabian Allen.
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Tom Banton, 3 James Vince, 4 Moeen Ali (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Phil Salt, 7 Sam Billings (wkt), 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Reece Topley, 11 Tymal Mills.
West Indies 1 Kyle Mayers, 2 Brandon King, 3 Nicholas Pooran (wkt), 4 Rovman Powell, 5 Darren Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Dominic Drakes, 9 Romario Shepherd, 10 Akeal Hosein, 11 Sheldon Cottrell.
The pitch: not too hairy
It’s the same one that produced an England victory last Sunday, by the barest of margins – and they batted first then too. It’s now less than hirsute. “There’s more hair on my head,” says Mark Butcher, “than there is on this deck.”
Tom Curran, commenting from the studio, reckons England’s spin trio will be crucial – Adil Rashid, Moeen and Liam Livingstone.
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“I wasn’t too fussed about losing,” says Moeen. (About the toss.) Two changes for England – Garton and Brook drop out after their debuts as Jordan and Billings return.
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Toss: WI
Kieron Powell wins the toss and, sure enough, he opts to field.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to the fourth act of an engrossing drama. England are now the cornered tigers: one more duff spell of death bowling and they’re toast. West Indies, who were meant to be the underdogs, have been the leaders of the pack. Even the one time they were beaten, in the second match, felt like a win.
They can afford another defeat, which would be the best thing for the series. But they’ve got the wind in their sails after piling up 224 in The Rovman Show, and they would make worthy winners. For England Eoin Morgan is ruled out of the rest of the series with his quad injury, so Moeen Ali has a chance to do things his way after being thrown the car keys at the last minute on Wednesday. Today he may even remember how many changes England have made to their XI.
My money is on one or two. Chris Jordan could return in his capacity as the shepherd of the young seamers, and after Phil Salt’s sparkling 57 on debut, the brains trust may have more faith in the top order, which could mean ditching the other novice batter, Harry Brook, and bringing in a bowler – Saqib Mahmood if the pitch is pacy, Liam Dawson if it’s slow. That would allow Liam Livingstone, still recovering from a debilitating bout of oesophagitis, to keep his powder dry for hitting sixes.
West Indies don’t need to do anything different, but they’ve tended to make the odd change and they’ll be conscious that there’s another game tomorrow. There are a few showers forecast so Kieron Pollard, like Moeen, will surely choose to chase if he wins the toss.
Play starts at 8pm GMT (3pm local time), all being well. Unless the toss is delayed, I’ll be back around 7.35 with news of the teams. In the meantime click here to see a stroke that even Rovman Powell would have been proud to play.
