Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett end Welsh Fire’s Eliminator hopes

Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett made classy half-centuries as Birmingham Phoenix claimed a five-wicket win at Sophia Gardens to end Welsh Fire’s hopes of reaching The Hundred Eliminator.

Chasing 147 for victory, the two England left-handers shared an opening stand of 114 in 73 deliveries, Moeen hitting eight fours and a six in his 46-ball 60, his highest ever score in The Hundred, before top-edging Matt Henry to David Payne.

Moeen’s departure brought Jamie Smith to the crease and England’s Test wicketkeeper looked in sublime touch, making 12 from his first three deliveries, until he was clean bowled by a Haris Rauf inducker.

Liam Livingstone, Dan Mousley and Jacob Bethell departed in quick succession as Phoenix looked to finish the game in a hurry and boost their net run-rate but Duckett (54 not out off 31) held his nerve to steer his team to a crucial victory, Benny Howell hitting the winning runs with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, Sean Abbott (Four for 16) had starred with the ball for Phoenix, the Australian all-rounder collecting his second four-wicket haul of this season’s Hundred as Fire were restricted to 146 for eight.

Struggle

Stephen Eskinazi played nicely for his 21-ball 30 before being clean bowled by Mousley but the rest of Fire’s top-order struggled, with Luke Wells undone by an Adam Milne slower ball and Joe Clarke and Tom Abell falling victim to Abbott.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore (54 from 32) injected some energy to the innings, hitting his first delivery for four and then dispatching Howell over the ropes. He hit five more fours in his rapid half-century – including three in succession off Tim Southee – until falling to Abbott, who then picked up his fourth when he had David Payne caught by Southee.

Matt Henry struck two boundaries off his compatriot Milne in the final set of the innings but it proved to be in vain as Fire’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage were extinguished.