Moeen Ali: 5 highlights from an enterprising career

#2 102(57) vs Windies in Bristol, 2017

England v West Indies - 3rd Royal London One Day International

In this performance, Ali showed yet another side of his. He was always known to be an attacking player but in the context of being one who relied on stroke making, superlatives were not his arena.

The perception changed.

At 6/217 in 34 overs, things did not look good for England as they were setting a target for a Caribbean line-up featuring the unforgiving ferocity of Chris Gayle and Evil Lewis, an uber-confident Shai Hope, and the ever-unpredictable Marlon Samuels, all to bat on the small dimensioned County Ground at Bristol.

Moeen Ali showed his many gears as he first took his side to safety with ten overs of damage control, and then suddenly switched to gears many did not even know existed. He took 24 from 5 balls from each of Miguel Cummins' and Jason Holder's consecutive overs and before anyone knew, he had moved from a sedate 37(37)* to 85(47)*.

He reached three figures in 53 balls, the second fastest for England. And out of nowhere, England had an imposing 9/369 on the board, a score which was always going to be out of Windies' reach as they slumped to a 124 run loss.