Moeen Ali scored 102 off 57 balls and helped England to take an unassailable lead in the five-match One-Day International series as they trounced Windies by 124 runs at the County Ground in Bristol. After the second game was rained out, England managed to take a 2-0 lead by winning the third ODI thanks to Moeen, who smashed the second fasted ODI ton by an English batsman and to help the home team post a mammoth 369 for 9. Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid then picked up eight wickets between them to bowl the visitors out for 245.
Soon after England posted the highest total at the venue, all eyes were on Chris Gayle. If Windies had to even challenge England, Gayle had to fire. He did - smashing 94 off 78 - but was run out in the 27th over. Even when they had lost three early wickets, Gayle kept the team afloat for the first part of the chase before it fell apart for them rather quickly.
The biggest worry, even when the opener kept England on their toes with nine fours and six sixes, was finding partners for Gayle. The Gayle-Shai Hope stand and the Gayle-Jason Mohammed partnership promised a lot but failed to produce the desired result. Gayle's wicket inflicted a body blow to Windies and they failed to recover from that blow. Evin Lewis threatened early on with two sixes but couldn't carry on. Hope could only contribute 20 while Marlon Samuels, who was at the receiving end of a debatable decision, registered his third low score of the series.
England managed to tie down Gayle but the left-hander reached his half-century in just 39 balls before opening up. Moeen was tonked for three consecutive sixes, which helped Gayle into the 90s before all the hopes crashed. Plunkett picked up 5 for 52 while Rashid finished with 3 for 34 to add to the misery to the visitors.
Earlier, Windies did well in patches to put England under pressure but failed to drive home the advantage. After England were reduced to 74 for 3, Joe Root (84) and Ben Stokes (73) were able to rebuild with ease. Their 132-run association came in 20.4 overs before Stokes was dismissed by Rovman Powell. England then lost Jos Buttler for just 2 to slip to 210 for 5. The onus was back on Root but he failed and fell to Cummins and the hosts found themselves in a tricky position at 217 for 6. Then came the Moeen-mayhem. He scored a 41-ball 50 and then effortlessly scored ton in just 53 balls. He scored 61 runs off 14 balls to shoot from 39 to 100. After taking Cummins for 24 in the 45th over, he followed it up with 24 off Holder's over.
Brief scores: England 369/9 in 50 overs (Moeen Ali 102, Joe Root 84, Ben Stokes 73; Miguel Cummins 3-82) beat Windies 245 in 39.1 overs (Chris Gayle 94; Liam Plunkett 5-52) by 124 runs.
