MOEEN Ali took the final two wickets as he and his England team-mates moved a step closer to reaching the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup after defeating Sri Lanka by 26 runs in Sharjah.
Worcestershire Rapids Vitality Blast captain Moeen helped England to chalk up a fourth successive win in the tournament, and maintain their 100 per cent record.
Moeen finished with 2-15 from three overs after Chamike Karunaratne and Maheesh Theekshana were both caught at long on in the 19th over by Jason Roy and Chris Jordan respectively as Sri Lanka were dismissed for 137. It followed on from his excellent performances with the ball against West Indies and Bangladesh.
England were indebted to a superb unbeaten 101 from 67 balls by Jos Buttler in totalling 163-4 in their 20 overs, after being put into bat.
Moeen – one not out from two balls – was at the crease when Buttler brought up three figures with his sixth six off the final ball of the innings.
He was back bowling in the powerplay, after not being used in the win over Australia, and a wicket fell from his third ball. Kusal Perera turned Moeen to square leg and set off for a single, but Pathum Nissanka was run out by Eoin Morgan’s thrown to keeper Buttler.
Moeen initially bowled two overs for 12 runs, and then the all-rounder played his part in the field with a smart catch.
He ran quickly across from mid-off and showed a safe pair of hands to dismiss Charith Asalanka after he attempted to hit Adil Rashid down the ground.
Some sharp catching and fielding by England swung the game their way before Moeen finished off proceedings after returning to bowl the penultimate over.