Moeen Ali becomes third England spinner to take 100 ODI wickets

Southampton [UK]: England all-rounder Moeen Ali completed 100 wickets in ODI cricket on Sunday, becoming the only third spinner from the country to do so.

Moeen reached this milestone during England’s second ODI against New Zealand at Southampton.

During the match, the spinner bowled well, taking 2/30 in five overs at a decent economy rate of 6.00. He took the crucial wickets of in-form all-rounder Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner.

Moeen also contributed 33 runs off 32 balls with his bat, smacking three boundaries and a six.

Now in 130 ODIs, Moeen has 101 wickets at an average of 49.20, with the best bowling figures of 4/46.

England spin bowlers with more ODI wickets than Moeen are Graeme Swann (104 wickets in 79 matches) and Adil Rashid (184 wickets in 126 matches). Adil is England’s third most-successful ODI bowler ever while Moeen sits at 14th spot.

With 269 wickets in 194 matches, pacer James Anderson is England’s most successful ODI bowler ever.

Coming to the match, after being put to bat first, early powerplay strikes by a returning Trent Boult reduced England to 55/5, with skipper Jos Buttler (30 in 25 balls, with four boundaries) being the only decent contributor among the top five batters.

Then Livingstone had a 48-run stand with Moeen (33 in 32 balls with three fours and a six) that helped England reach the 100-run mark and then a 112-run stand with Sam Curran (42 in 35 balls, with one four and two sixes) that helped England reach 226/7 in 50 overs.

Boult (3/37) was the pick of the bowlers for NZ. Tim Southee (2/65) got two scalps while Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner got one each.

In the chase of 227, NZ was reduced to 55/3, with Finn Allen going for a duck and openers Devon Conway (14) and Will Young (33) falling quickly after a 49-run stand. After a 56-run partnership between Daryl Mitchell (57 in 52 balls, with six fours and a six) and skipper Tom Latham (19), NZ lost their seven wickets for just 36 runs, bundling out for 147 in 26.5 overs.

Reece Topley (3/27) and David Willey (3/34) were the pick of the bowlers for England. Moeen got two while Atkinson got one.

Livingstone took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award.