Ben Gardner uses CricViz data to examine how Moeen Ali has turned around his overseas form spectacularly against Sri Lanka.
Up until England’s tour of Sri Lanka, Moeen Ali was something of a curio: a spinner who preferred bowling in England. Away, his wickets came at an eye-watering 52.27 runs apiece. At home, he averages 33.47, while his strike-rate in England, of 50.2 wickets per delivery, is the best of any English spinner since the Second World War.
His last two winters had been particularly galling. In Bangladesh in 2016, bowling in the subcontinent for the first time, he appeared to have made a breakthrough, claiming his first overseas five-wicket haul in the second Test. But in five Tests against India, he could manage only 10 wickets at an average of 64.90.
If that performance was disappointing because of the expectation on Moeen as England’s lead spinner in twirl-friendly conditions, then his efforts in Australia and New Zealand were simply awful. No Test bowler who has bowled more than 1,000 balls in a season has averaged more than Moeen’s 126.80. He also struggled woefully with the bat, averaging 18.81 with a high score of 40, and was dropped from the Test team for the first time for the last game of the tour.
The method reaped immediate rewards, with Moeen taking 15 wickets in his next three Tests, having claimed just seven in his first three, and he has continued to prosper at home.
But overseas something different was needed, and it turns out it was that old county method, of tossing it up and tweaking it hard – consistency be damned, that’s what the others are there for. Moeen’s role now is simple – bowl to take wickets, don’t think about anything else. And it’s made him lethal.
