Birmingham Phoenix all-rounder Dan Mousley put on an exhibition of death bowling in The Hundred on Wednesday (July 31), helping his side to victory over Trent Rockets.
In pursuit of 139 for victory in 100 balls, the Rockets were given a solid platform by opener Alex Hales (38) and No.3 Joe Root (33), who put on 61 runs in 34 balls for the second wicket. By the time 90 balls had been bowled, they looked firmly in the driving seat with another 10 runs needed from 10 balls, with five wickets in hand.
At that point, Phoenix skipper Moeen Ali tossed the ball to off-spinner Dan Mousley. A decent part-timer, Mousley is by nobody's definition a reliable or regular bowler at the back end of innings. But with Moeen's options limited to himself, Liam Livingstone, Mousley (all part-timers) and pacer Sean Abbott who had gone for 35 runs in 15 balls, the captain had to bite the bullet.
Dan Mousley takes 3-3 to take Birmingham Phoenix over the line
Mousley came around the wicket. He bowled the first delivery seam-up, banging it into the wicket and making no attempt to spin it, beating the bat of Lewis Gregory. The next ball was a quick off-break on a yorker length, which Gregory squeezed out to survive. Off the next ball, Mousley struck. A quick, pinpoint yorker crashed into the base of the stumps to send Gregory back for a four-ball duck.
Imad Wasim and Rashid Khan managed to steal a couple of singles off the next two, full, deliveries to round off the set. Given the success of these five deliveries, Moeen opted to continue with Mousley for the last five balls, off which the Rockets now needed eight runs. But the Phoenix now had to bring another fielder into the 30-yard circle as a penalty for maintaining a slow over-rate.
No problem for Mousley, who continued to fire in his yorkers. Imad Wasim edged one onto his pads, before digging out the next one for a single. Seven needed off three.
Then, in almost identical fashion to the Gregory wicket, Mousley landed one right on the base of Rashid Khan's off stump to send him packing. New man in Jordan Thompson made contact with the next ball, but it went straight up in the air to be pouched by Tim Southee.
A six off the last ball would still help the Rockets tie the game, but Mousley fired one in at Luke Wood's pads, denying the batters even a single. In one of the most incredible death bowling spells, perhaps ever, he had taken 3-3 in 10 balls, finishing with 3-9 in 15 balls in the match to bowl his side to victory.
Watch Dan Mousley's brilliant death bowling spell for Birmingham Phoenix here
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