When play was finally abandoned on the last day of the first Test between England and India at Trent Bridge, England’s selectors turned their minds to the second match at Lord’s, and to choosing an XI that could beat an increasingly imperious Indian team.

One of their most striking decisions was to parachute in Moeen Ali from The Hundred, where the mercurial all-rounder’s 189 runs in six matches were making him impossible to ignore for England’s T20 World Cup squad later this year.

While Moeen’s blistering knocks have made him a star of both The Hundred and the recent editions of the IPL, the Worcestershire all-rounder’s Test career has ground to a baffling holt since his request for a short break from international red-ball cricket in 2019.

Despite years of regular match-winning performances, there’s still a sense that he is not appreciated in the manner his talent and performances deserve. Whether it be the removal of his Test contract in 2019 after his request for a short break from Test cricket, or Joe Root falsely saying he had ‘chosen’ to leave the tour of India earlier this year, Moeen has not received the support from coaches or fans that his performances in Test cricket merit.

Moeen himself is not blind to the treatment he has received; in 2019 he told the Guardian that “sometimes it can feel like my bad days in Test cricket get amplified or singled out more than other players, while my good ones can fly under the radar.”

In the years preceding his break from Test cricket, Moeen’s good performances occasionally went unnoticed, including by England’s selectors. In the year preceding the 2019 Ashes and the removal of Moeen’s Test contract, the spinner was the world’s leading wicket taker in Test cricket with 45 wickets at an average of 23.13. Between January 2017 and July 2019, Moeen’s average was still an impressive 28, despite his difficult tour of Australia in 2017/18.

Although he has often been criticised for his inability to control the run-rate and build pressure on batsmen, it is Moeen’s wicket-taking ability which sets him apart from the cohort of spinners who have played Test cricket for England; he has more Test wickets than Phil Tufnell, Monty Panesar and Ashley Giles. Pretty good for someone who was originally considered a part-time spinner.

Thanks to his wicket-taking ability, which is created by the revs he imparts on the ball, Moeen’s strike rate of 60.4 is the second best of any England spinner with 150 Test wickets, narrowly behind Graeme Swann’s 60.1. Moeen also takes wickets at a quicker rate than Nathan Lyon, who is widely regarded as the best off-spinner Australia has ever produced.

The label of ‘match-winner’ is over-used in modern cricket, but Moeen certainly is one. He has picked up the same number of ‘Player of the Match’ awards (6) as Andrew Flintoff, but in 17 fewer tests than the iconic Lancashire all-rounder, and against South Africa in 2017 he became the first player in Test history to take 25 wickets and score 250-plus runs in a four match series.

It is Moeen’s ability to decide matches which undoubtedly led to his recall to the Test team for England’s dramatic defeat at Lord’s against India. While Chris Silverwood must now reform his team once again in order to defeat India at Headingley next week, Moeen’s place in the team should no longer be in doubt. As Steve Harmison recently told ESPNCricinfo Match Day, “there’s only one spin option in [England], and that’s Moeen Ali.”

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