A brilliant all-round effort from England’s stand-in skipper Moeen Ali helped the visitors in claiming the fourth T20I of the series as they beat the West Indies by 34 runs, on January 29 (Saturday), at Kenisington Oval, Barbados.
Batting first, the English team set up a big target of 193 runs losing 6 wickets, in 20 overs. Opener Jason Roy scored a terrific half century (52 runs off 42 balls) to give a good start to his side’s batting. Roy smashed 5 boundaries and 3 sixes in his innings. James Vince came down to bat, after the early dismissal of another English opener Tom Banton (4 runs). Vince scored 34 runs off 26 balls and gave Roy a good support.
A crucial wicket
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard provided a crucial breakthrough in the 12th over of the innings after he sent Roy back to the dressing room. The 31-year-old right-handed batsman came charging outside his leg stump and looked to play a shot over long-off but eventually his mistimed shot only produced an edge which was caught by wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran.
Later, stand-in skipper Moeen Ali played an important innings of 63 runs off just 28 runs to help his side in reaching a fightable total. Ali’s innings was comprised of 7 sixes and a solitary boundary.
Wicketkeeper Sam Billings also scored a quick-fire 13 runs (2 sixes) off just 4 balls.
For the hosts, their pace bowler Jason Holder turned out to be the best performer after he bagged three English wickets.
West Indies batting
In reply, West Indies opening batsmen started the proceedings confidently but their 64-run stand was broken by skipper Moeen Ali in the 8th over, after he dismissed Kyle Mayers (40 runs off 23 deliveries). In his next over, the English skipper dismissed the opening batsman- Brandon King (26 runs off 27 balls).
West Indies wicketkeeper Pooran (22 runs off 16 balls), all-rounder Holder (36 runs off 24 balls) and skipper Pollard (18 runs off 16 balls) tried to secure the victory for their side but their efforts eventually went in vain as the hosts were restricted within a total of 159 runs losing five wickets in 20 overs.
With this victory, England leveled the 5-match series 2-2 and the final match T20I of the series is scheduled to be played on January 31 (Monday).
