BRISTOL: Moeen Ali said his six-laden One-day International century against West Indies was simply a matter of deciding to press the button and play a few shots.

Moeen struck England’s second-fastest ODI hundred off just 53 balls, with his second fifty coming in a world record 12 deliveries in the third ODI here on Sunday.

His 102 was the cornerstone of a total of 369 for nine — England’s highest in ODIs against West Indies.

Despite an impressive 94 from the returning Chris Gayle, it proved too much for the visitors to chase with England winning by the commanding margin of 124 runs to go 2-0 up with two to play in this five-match series.

Once Gayle was run out by Adil Rashid, West Indies’ innings fell away with England fast bowler Liam Plunkett taking five for 52 — his maiden ODI five-for — as the tourists were dismissed for 245 with a whopping 65 balls, or more than 10 overs, to spare.

Moeen hit eight sixes and Gayle six in a match featuring 28 in total, with both left-handed batsmen taking advantage of the short straight boundaries at southwest county Glouces­tershire’s headquarters.

“I just had a slog really, and everything just seemed to come off,” Moeen, known for being an elegant stroke-player, told reporters. “I thought we’d got ourselves in, and it was time to press the button and play a few shots — it’s not a massive hit for six here.”

West Indies started impressively with the ball to restrict the home side to just 18 runs off the first five overs.

“We just didn’t finish off well,” said a rueful West Indies captain Jason Holder, who won the toss and fielded. “England bat deep. Moeen has played a special innings. I think we didn’t execute our plans towards him. It’s a small ground and he backed himself to clear it.”

One consolation for West Indies was the innings of Gayle, long one of the world’s leading limited-overs batsmen.

He had marked his 38th birthday on Thursday by injuring his hamstring just before the toss while warming up and so missing a no-result in the second ODI at Trent Bridge.

But the Jamaica opener was near his blistering best in Bristol.

“It was very special,” said Holder of the veteran’s 78-ball innings, which also featured nine fours. “Not only did he get the start we wanted, he carried on and batted into the innings. That was important, the longer he stays out there, the more England fear losing.”

The fourth ODI is at The Oval on Wednesday.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

J.M. Bairstow c and b Holder 13

A.D. Hales lbw b Cummins 36

J.E. Root lbw b Cummins 84

E.J.G. Morgan c Hope b Holder 0

B.A. Stokes c Lewis b Powell 73

J.C. Buttler b Cummins 2

Moeen Ali c Holder b Nurse 102

C.R. Woakes c Powell b Taylor 34

L.E. Plunkett run out 9

D.J. Willey not out 1

A.U. Rashid not out 9

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3, NB-2) 6

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 369

FALL OF WKTS: 1-27, 2-73, 3-74, 4-206, 5-210, 6-217, 7-334, 8-354, 9-358.

BOWLING: Taylor 10-1-75-1 (1nb, 3w); Holder 10-0-81-2 (1nb); Cummins 9-0-82-3; Bishoo 5-0-33-0; Nurse 8-0-59-1; Powell 8-0-38-1.

WEST INDIES:

C.H. Gayle run out 94

E. Lewis c Moeen b Willey 13

S.D. Hope c Buttler b Plunkett 20

M.N. Samuels c Buttler b Plunkett 11

J.N. Mohammed c Bairstow b Plunkett 38

R. Powell c Woakes b Rashid 8

J.O. Holder c Moeen b Plunkett 34

A.R. Nurse lbw b Rashid 1

D. Bishoo c Morgan b Plunkett 12

J.E. Taylor b Rashid 0

M.L. Cummins not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-7) 10

TOTAL (all out, 39.1 overs) 245

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-79, 3-109, 4-176, 5-192, 6-210, 7-212, 8-241, 9-241.

BOWLING: Woakes 7-1-32-0 (1w); Willey 4-0-34-1 (1w); Plunkett 8.1-0-52-5 (1w); Moeen Ali 10-0-65-0 (2w); Stokes 4-0-25-0 (2w); Rashid 6-0-34-3.

RESULT: England won by 124 runs to lead five-match series 2-0.

UMPIRES: M.A. Gough (England) and S.D. Fry (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: R.J. Tucker (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: Javagal Srinath.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Moeen Ali.

NEXT MATCH: The Oval (D/N), Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017