Moeen Ali has struggled with an injury on his comeback in the first Test of the 2023 Ashes, with a cut to his spinning finger hampering him in an echo of an issue during the 2017/18 Ashes.

Moeen left the field after bowling four overs on the third morning, and copped a fine for applying an unapproved substance to his hand on the second day. He suffered a cut on his finger, seemingly from the friction of the seam when bowling with the new ball. While it took until the 18th over for him to be introduced to the attack, Moeen was brought back in with the second new ball only nine overs old, and it was shortly after that he was seen spraying his hand in the outfield. The England coaching staff grimaced as he showed them the wound upon entering the dressing room to receive treatment.

The off-spinner had a similar issue during the 2017/18 Ashes. His preparations for the series were hampered by a side injury, which prevented him from bowling in any of England’s warm-up games, and he was brought into bowl in the first innings when the ball was still new, coming into the attack for the ninth over. He struggled throughout the series, taking five wickets at 115, and spoke about the impact of the ailment.

“I ripped it in the first game and it’s not been easy. It just needs to heal,” Moeen said. “As soon as I start bowling it starts to rip a little bit, but it is healing now. I hope another week or at least five or six days will be quite good for it.”

Moeen has not been injured in the lead-up to this series, but his preparation has been similarly limited. A last-minute call-up after Jack Leach sustained a stress fracture, he last played a first-class game in September 2021. England chose to forgo any match practice in favour of a more relaxed build-up, with golf a key feature.

Moeen’s workload was also significant, with the all-rounder shouldering his second heaviest workload in an innings in a home Test, bowling 33 overs in all for figures of 2-147. He showed flashes of his past brilliance, including a beauty to bowl Cameron Green, and England will be hoping his injury heals by the time they look to defend a target in the fourth innings.

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