Ali Seals ODI Series Win After Evin Lewis' 176

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England completed a series win over West Indies with a six-run victory on the DLS method as rain ended the fourth one-day international early.
Three days after hitting a 53-ball century at Bristol, Moeen Ali struck an unbeaten 48 off 25 deliveries to take England to 258-5 after 35.1 overs.
Jos Buttler was 43 not out, the recalled Jason Roy having made 84.
Evin Lewis struck a fine 176 before retiring hurt and Jason Holder hit 77 in West Indies’ 356-5 at The Oval.
England take an unassailable 3-0 lead into the final match of the series at Southampton on Friday, a game Lewis is set to miss with a hairline fracture of an ankle.
Despite missing Ben Stokes – who was involved in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub on Monday morning – England sealed a third limited-overs series win in three attempts this summer, after ODI and Twenty20 successes over South Africa.
The timing of Moeen’s innings was superb in every sense.
With rain forecast and England behind the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern target, he initiated a thrilling counter-attack from 181-5 with a series of searing drives and meaty leg-side heaves.
He dominated an unbroken stand of 77 with Buttler, smashing six fours and two sixes to rescue England’s fading hopes.
Moeen punched the final ball of the 35th over through cover to take England ahead, and only one more delivery was possible before the players were forced to leave the field shortly after 19:30 BST. With no improvement in conditions, victory was confirmed at 20:15.
As well as Moeen played, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for Lewis, whose sensational 130-ball innings underpinned what appeared to a daunting West Indies total, albeit on a fine surface.
The same applies to Alzarri Joseph, the 20-year-old pace bowler who claimed 5-56 to become the youngest West Indian to take five wickets in an ODI.
Lewis has built his reputation on brutal stroke-play, but he demonstrated commendable maturity in leading West Indies’ recovery from 33-3 after Chris Woakes found the outside edge of both Chris Gayle and Shai Hope and trapped Marlon Samuels lbw in the first seven overs.
Driving forcefully through the off side off front and back foot, the left-handed Lewis received valuable support from Jason Mohammed, who contributed 46 to a fourth-wicket stand of 117 before he was caught behind cutting Adil Rashid.
Even the early stages of Lewis’ alliance with Holder were relatively sedate, but two successive sixes off Liam Plunkett from Lewis heralded the beginning of an onslaught that saw 144 runs plundered in the last 11 overs of the innings.
Having brought up a 94-ball century, Lewis needed only a further 26 deliveries to go to 150 as an over of Moeen’s off-spin was taken for 25.
A double century looked a distinct possibility until Lewis, in digging out a Jake Ball yorker, hit the ball into his right ankle, left the field on a stretcher after lengthy treatment and went to hospital for an X-ray.
It said much for the quality of Holder’s hitting that he played an almost equal part in a riotous fifth-wicket stand of 168 in 18 overs with Lewis, while Rovman Powell swung to good effect late in the innings. (BBC Sport)
 
 

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