[Watch] Moeen Ali scores a brilliant hundred to send Warwickshire into the Vitality T20 Blast quarter-finals
England all-rounder Moeen Ali slammed 103 runs off 59 deliveries against Leicestershire to help Warwickshire qualify for the Vitality T20 Blast quarterfinals. The Bears won the contest by 72 runs at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Friday, July 19.
Ali opened the innings alongside skipper Alex Davies after Warwickshire won the toss and opted to bat first. The left-handed batter was off to a flyer after hitting successive boundaries to kickstart his innings. He went berserk in the final over of the powerplay, scoring four boundaries off Jimmy Neesham before reaching the 50-run mark off just 28 deliveries.
The veteran all-rounder maintained the tempo by dispatching Lewis Goldsworthy for successive sixes in the eighth over. He then made the most of the favorable matchup against Rehan Ahmed by taking him on in the middle overs.
Ali hit three boundaries in Ahmed's final over to near the three-figure mark. He finally scaled the landmark in the 17th over but was dismissed by Scott Currie in the penultimate over. His efforts, which included seven fours and nine sixes, ensured that Warwickshire posted a healthy first innings total of 194-5.
Here's the moment when he reached his hundred:
In the previous game, Moeen Ali was dismissed for a golden duck by David Willey in Warwickshire's 11-run loss to Northamptonshire.
Moeen Ali's maiden T20 hundred came at the same venue
Following the match-winning effort against Leicestershire, Moeen Ali now has three T20 hundreds to his name. The first came at Edgbaston itself when he was representing Worcestershire. He had scored 115 runs off 56 deliveries on that occasion while opening the innings.
His second T20 hundred remains his highest score in the format to date. Ali had smashed an unbeaten 121 off 60 deliveries while batting at No. 3 in the 2019 T20 Blast quarter-final clash against Sussex at Hove.
Despite his recent surge in form in the Vitality T20 Blast, Moeen Ali's future in England's white-ball setup remains unknown. He is one of several aging players in the squad, and his poor returns at the 2024 T20 World Cup do not help his case either.