Ben Duckett and Moeen Ali smother Fire season after Sean Abbott’s four-for

Welsh Fire’s hopes of making it to The Hundred Eliminator were dashed when Birmingham Phoenix defeated Welsh Fire five wickets to take third place in the league. Moeen Ali and Ben Duckett both scored elegant half-centuries.

In pursuit of a winning total of 147, the two left-handed players from England opened with a partnership of 114 runs in 73 deliveries. Moeen’s 46-ball 60, his greatest score in The Hundred, including eight fours and a six, before he was edged out by David Payne.

After Moeen left the field, Jamie Smith took his place at the crease. The England Test keeper appeared to be in perfect form as he made 12 off his opening three deliveries before being out of the game due to a blow from Haris Rauf. Phoenix attempted to finish the game quickly and increase their net run rate with the departures of Liam Livingstone, Dan Mousley, and Jacob Bethell, but

Ben Duckett, who amassed an undefeated 54 off 31 balls, maintained composure to lead his team to a vital victory, with Benny Howell scoring the winning runs with seven balls remaining.

Prior to this, Fire were held to 146 for 8 when Australian all-rounder Sean Abbott grabbed 4 for 16 to lead the way for Phoenix with the ball. This was Abbott’s second four-wicket haul of the season.

The rest of Fire’s top order faltered, with Luke Wells being undone by a slower ball from Adam Milne and Joe Clarke and Tom Abell succumbing to Abbott. Stephen Eskinazi played well for his 21-ball thirty before getting clean bowled by Mousley.

After striking his opening delivery for four and then hitting Howell over the ropes, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (54 from 32) gave the innings some much-needed vigour. During his quick fifty-odd, he smashed five more fours, including three straight from Tim Southee, before falling to Abbott, who then collected his fourth after Southee caught David Payne.

Fire’s chances of making it to the knockout stage were dashed by two boundaries scored by Matt Henry off his countryman Milne in the last set of the innings.

Abbott, the Meerkat Match Hero, stated: “At first, it was a little difficult to summarise the conditions, but it was all about getting back to the fundamentals and attempting to hit the top of the stumps with change-ups before proceeding further.

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“There is undoubtedly a laid-back atmosphere among the group, and I think we project that when we go out and play the game. In every situation, we aim to exert pressure on the opposing team, and we’ve been doing a good job of that these past few games. Right now, it seems like everyone is doing a great job of fulfilling their jobs and there is a nice balance.”