The Analysis: Colin Ingram rediscovers his mojo and Moeen Ali makes England credentials clear

The Cricketer takes a look at talking points from The Men's Hundred clash between Birmingham Phoenix and Oval Invincibles at Edgbaston

Ingram shows how he wants to play

Prior to Wednesday night, Colin Ingram had managed just 80 runs from eight innings in short-format cricket.

With Glamorgan and then Oval Invincibles, the South African had struggled for form, consistency and rhythm.

And then, against Birmingham Phoenix, everything suddenly clicked.

Ingram’s elevation to No.3 in the Invincibles’ order paid immediate dividends. 

The hard-hitting left-hander clobbered 81 from 43 deliveries, mixing traditional cricket shots with the typical heavy bottom hand which has entertained Glamorgan fans for years.

He at once played the role of anchor and finisher, bulldozing through the second half of the innings with customary belligerence and more than a hint of invention.

It will have been a wake-up call for Invincibles, who had dropped him down the order for the tournament to this point, somewhat negating his natural inclinations.

“It’s been a tough old summer and just to get in early and get some boundaries early and get some rhythm was much needed. I really enjoyed it,” Ingram said in his post-match interview.

“The hybrid is a new surface so looking at it looked a bit strange and the first few wobbled a bit, but once you get in it gets easier. 

^{Moeen Ali in action}

Howell about that?

Benny Howell is both a known quantity and a total mystery to most across the English county circuit.

The Gloucestershire allrounder, representing Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, regards himself as “somewhere between a fast spinner and a medium pacer” and boasts what he claims to be a baker’s dozen of variations, which makes him the Swiss Army Knife of short-form cricket.

Howell has had Big Bash experience with Melbourne Renegades but otherwise top-level franchise T20 has eluded him. Maybe because he is not box office, maybe because his reputation doesn’t stretch far enough, maybe because he was born in France.

Time for that to end. Here he went for 28 in his 20 balls but his pick n mix bowling accounted for Jason Roy with a wickedly disguised knuckle ball which had one of the best white-ball openers in the world scything at thin air like a Star Wars fanboy in a make-believe lightsaber fight. 

The IPL will likely continue to evade Howell, but he’d fit in. (He can bat, too).

Finn!

Finn Allen was absolutely flying along in the chase when the cricket gods decided enough was enough.

The Kiwi was unbeaten on 23 from eight balls, taking exception to any kind of width - even in millimetres - on both sides of the wicket, before it all went wrong in very unusual circumstances. 

Sunil Narine bowled a ball of short-ish length, to which Allen went onto the back foot before his heel slipped through to touch the base of the stumps. 

A bail tumbled, Finn grumped loud enough to be picked up on the stump mic, and the New Zealander had to walk off, dejected. 

It doesn’t happen often. But it does happen at Edgbaston (Shane Warne in that Ashes 2005 Test, anyone).

^{Finn Allen of Birmingham Phoenix}

Moeen reminding England what’s what

Surely, Moeen Ali has to be in England’s T20 World Cup starting XI?!

The Phoenix captain was in his element on Wednesday night in a finisher’s role - and this time taking on pace as well as spin with devastating effect.

Moeen took maximum advantage of being dropped tamely in the deep early in his innings to treat England teammate Tom Curran with absolute disdain, smacking two sixes and a four between the 60th and 65th deliveries of the chase.

Then, when Sunil Narine joined the attack (a dubious choice against a set Moeen), the allrounder immediately deposited him over long-on. 

Eventually he did fall - clothing a pull off Saqib Mahmood into the legside - but by then the equation for Phoenix was 35 off 28 with six wickets remaining. He had done an effective job. 

Eoin Morgan will surely be taking note.

And one last thing…

Towards the end of the Phoenix chase, Tammy Beaumont and Lydia Greenway joined forces on commentary duty: two women calling an elite men’s game for 25 balls. And did the world break? Of course it bloody didn’t.