England made the surprise move of promoting Moeen Ali above Jos Buttler against New Zealand in the opening match of ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, at Ahmedabad on October 5.

New Zealand went into the 2023 World Cup opener without the injured Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, and Lockie Ferguson. Tom Latham, leading in Williamson’s absence, opted to field. England, too, brought in Harry Brook for Ben Stokes, who has a hip niggle.

Jonny Bairstow (33 in 35 balls) and Dawid Malan (14 in 24) added 40 for the opening wicket before getting out. Harry Brook made a whirlwind 16-ball 25 that ended in a sequence of four, four, six, out off Rachin Ravindra.

England sent Moeen Ali at the fall of Brook’s wicket. Moeen has batted in the top three before in ODI cricket, but never since 2016. However, he does have recent experience batting at No.5 before, once in 2019 (against Pakistan, just ahead of the World Cup) and twice in 2022, against South Africa at Old Trafford and against Australia at Melbourne.

Stokes did not play in the last two matches and on both occasions, England promoted Moeen after three wickets fell early (for 58 and 66). England made 201 and 142 in the two matches.

There might have been multiple reasons for Moeen’s promotion in the World Cup opener. Mitchell Santner and Ravindra, New Zealand’s main spinners, both bowl left-arm finger spin and turn the ball away from the right-hander. Moeen is also noted as a strong, attacking player of spin.

Last month, Stokes slammed 182 against New Zealand at the Kia Oval, the highest ODI score for England. Malan made a 95-ball 96 in the same match. Ravindra picked up seven wickets in four ODIs in the series, but in that match, he could not bowl more than two overs due to the big partnership between the two southpaws.

And while Moeen’s death-over (between overs 41 and 50) strike rate is an impressive 135, it is not comparable to Jos Buttler’s 169 or Liam Livingstone’s 161. Preserving Buttler and Livingstone for the end may have played into the decision.

As things turned out, New Zealand brought on off-spinner Glenn Phillips soon after Moeen’s arrival. Phillips had bowled only 37 overs in 20 ODIs before this match, but he bowls off-breaks, which would turn away from Moeen.

It took Phillips two balls to remove Moeen, his seventh ODI wicket. Buttler joined Root, and Latham immediately got Santner and Ravindra to bowl in tandem.

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