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Moeen Ali Belted England’s Fastest T20I Fifty, A Throwback To Ex-Batter’s Landmark Knock

Moeen Ali holds the record of England's fastest T20I half-century (x.com)Moeen Ali holds the record of England's fastest T20I half-century (x.com)

England all-rounder Moeen Ali stunned the entire cricketing fraternity by announcing his retirement from international game. Mere days after getting excluded from England’s white-ball setup against Australia, the cricketer decided to pass on the baton to the next generation.

Moeen Ali celebrated a decorated English career ever since he made his debut across all three formats in 2014 up until his retirement in late-2024. Apart from being a part of England’s World Cup winning teams from 2019 and 2022, the cricketer also holds some rare individual all-round feats like achieving a Test double of scoring above 3,000 runs while holding 200-plus wickets.

Here at OneCricket, we take a look back at a time when Ali blazed his way to slapping England’s fastest T20I half-century in history.

When Moeen Ali leathered Kagiso Rabada and co.

In the opening T20I match of England’s 2022 home series against South Africa at Bristol, the hosts mounted 234-6 from 20 overs upon batting first. Jonny Bairstow at number four bludgeoned a six-laden 90 from just 53 deliveries in the middle-overs to top-score in the innings.

While Bairstow served the impetus for the Englishmen to go berserk, it was Moeen Ali who turbo-charged the English innings by whacking a whirlwind 52. During his 106-run partnership with Bairstow, Ali reached the 50-run mark in just his 16th delivery to record the fastest half-century among any English batter in T20I history, surpassing teammate Liam Livingstone’s year-old 17-ball effort against Pakistan at Nottingham.

Moeen Ali ended up hauling 52 runs from 18 balls and smeared two boundaries and six maximums against the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi in his turbulent knock. The senior all-rounder also picked up a South African wicket later in the game to orchestrate a remarkable 41-run win for England, and a ‘Player of the Match’ award for himself.

As of now, Moeen Ali will continue to pursue franchise-based cricket in some of the biggest and most prominent T20 leagues all over the world. For the past four IPL seasons, the dashing all-rounder has been a part of the Chennai Super Kings franchise alongside the likes of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.