Moeen Ali hits vital 40 as Birmingham Phoenix beat London Spirit

England all-rounder Moeen Ali hits vital 40 before Chris Benjamin sees Birmingham Phoenix home to four-wicket victory at Edgbaston following Zak Crawley’s half-century for London Spirit

Zak Crawley opened for London Spirit and made an assertive 64 from 39 balls
Joe Denly hit vital cameo of 25 but Eoin Morgan and Dan Lawrence struggled
Liam Livingstone hit 19 in Birmingham Phoenix’s reply on their home ground
Moeen Ali hit a well-made 40 before Chris Benjamin finished the job at the end

A fine Chris Benjamin flourish helped Birmingham Phoenix get over the line against Eoin Morgan’s London Spirit.

Benjamin struck two sixes in the final 15 deliveries to take the game to the last five, and left Adam Milne to finish the game with three balls to spare.

Earlier, the wily medium pace of Benny Howell stymied the Spirit top order which saw England captain Morgan caught cheaply at long-on and Joe Denly snaffled by Moeen Ali for 25.

Moeen Ali hit a crucial 40 runs as Birmingham Phoenix beat London Spirit at Edgbaston

The hosts were seen home by Chris Benjamin, who hit a fantastic cameo of 24 from 15 balls

Liam Livingstone threatened to continue his England form before departing for 19 runs

Zak Crawley opened and made an excellent 64 in London Spirit’s innings at Edgbaston

Only Crawley got going among the star-studded batting line, crafting 64 off 40 balls including eight boundaries. It helped his side crawl to a par 144.

In the Phoenix chase, two early wickets saw captain Moeen and Liam Livingstone join the crease.

The England colleagues crunched the ball to both sides of the wicket and looked well set, until Livingstone was caught at fine leg, off Cullen.

Ali soon fell to some excellent boundary footwork by Ravi Bopara at long-on off Roelof van der Merwe’s bowling, and a collapse ensued before Benjamin picked up the baton to take his side home.