Ben Gardner argues why, despite having declined drastically with the bat, Moeen Ali remains vital to England in the Ashes.
It’s a cricket truism that, for all-rounders, success in one discipline begets success in the other, and it might be one with a kernel of truth in it too.
Think Ian Botham in 1981, who was on the verge of retirement after the first Test, swatted 149 in the second and then took 5-1 in the third. Or Mitchell Johnson in the 2013/14 Ashes, having bowled to the left and the right three years before, scoring 64 to rescue Australia on the first day before ripping England apart with 37 wickets in the series.
In many ways, Moeen Ali is not like most cricketers, but in this he is surely unique. To date he has played in 16 Test series, averaged over 30 with the bat in six of them, under 30 with the ball in seven, but only once have the two coincided.
It’s almost as if Moeen has made a deal with the devil; that he signed a contract that would allow him to be an international class batsman and bowler, but failed to read the fineprint that said he could never be both at the same time.
Few are as skilled across such a range of conditions. In the last year he’s excelled across three continents, and been England’s leading wicket-taker in their last two away tours. But it’s back home, in a supposed slow bowlers’ graveyard, where his record really stands out. Going back slightly further, to the start of 2017, he’s been pitted against a raft of modern luminaries, Keshav Maharaj, R Ashwin, and Shadab Khan among them. Only Moeen, who averages 21, has taken his wickets at less than 30 apiece.
Leach’s record, albeit from a much smaller sample size, is comparable. But in a team replete with all-rounders, end holding-up is rarely what’s needed. Different avenues of attack are more valuable, and Moeen outshines Leach as a pure threat.
As ever with Moeen, there’s no telling how long it will last. He could turn up at Edgbaston unable to land it on a length. He could equally smash 60 off 70 to go with it. He is gloriously unfathomable, and, on current form, even not knowing what end of the bat to hold, entirely integral to England’s cause.
