Moeen gives polite nudge on England role

Moeen Ali really isn’t the sort to roar for his inclusion in a team or storm into the coach’s room demanding explanations.

When asked earlier in the tour whether it was an arm ball that had earned a wicket, he answered, “Nah, just one that didn’t spin”. When he found himself praising the number of maidens he had bowled, he added “I don’t do that very often”.

When asked to describe his dismissals in Mohali he uses the word “crap” and when asked whether he and Adil Rashid can replicate the success of England’s spinners in 2012 (when Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar took 19 wickets between them) he responds by laughing out loud. Indeed, when asked whether Rashid’s improved performance with the ball could put his own position under pressure, he agreed: “It’s just a matter of time.”

He is as modest and unassuming as international sportsmen come. He will never have a nickname like “The Big Show” (even if he does have more international centuries than Glenn Maxwell).

So perhaps it is relevant that, very gently, very politely, even a little bit apologetically, he has suggested he might like to have a settled batting position.

Moeen has batted everywhere from No. 1 to No. 9 in the Test team. He has opened the batting and the bowling. He has been pushed down the order to accommodate others and then promoted to cover for their failures. He has been asked to thrash for quick runs, block for draws, see off the new ball and shepherd the tail. His versatility is, no doubt, his greatest asset, but it might also be a bit of a curse. It is hardly a surprise that he has looked confused at times.

“Close in the future,” he said, reiterating the point that he is not demanding anything, just expressing an aspiration, “I’d like to have a position I can try to nail down.”

Almost immediately, he corrects himself.

“Obviously, I don’t mind. I just get on with it. Whatever they tell me.”

But then the elaboration hints at his frustration …

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