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England stick with Moeen in a twist
- Updated: July 21, 2016
It was the emphasis that was telling. Alastair Cook’s stressing of the word “this” in the sentence “Moeen Ali is out first choice spinner for this game” told us more than the words used.
It wasn’t quite a “last chance” warning, but it wasn’t far from it.
Moeen cannot have too many complaints. He has only passed 25 twice in seven Tests (though one of those was a pleasing century at Chester-le-Street less than two months ago) this year and he is averaging 92.00 with the ball in the same period. Even a larger sample size, going back to the start of 2015, is not flattering: he averages 29.23 with the bat and 47.86 with the ball. He has never been dropped in his Test career – though he has missed games for other reasons – but he goes into the Old Trafford game needing a performance to ensure he in the side for his “home” Test at Edgbaston.
It is possible that England will go into the second Investec Test with two spinners. But, bearing in mind that they have not won a game at home with two specialist spinners since 1985 (and the spinners bowled one over between them in the final innings), bearing in mind that Joe Root was bowling more than usual in training, bearing in mind how well Pakistan play spin – Adil Rashid averaged 69.50 with the ball in the series in the UAE – and that approach seems unlikely. Besides, Manchester has been overcast since England named their XII with a view to seeing how the pitch developed in the next 12 hours.
Rashid has impressed in training, though. He bowled Gary Ballance (deceived in the flight and losing his middle stump as a consequence) in the nets on Thursday and then took the edge of Chris Woakes’ bat. As Woakes played Yasir Shah’s legspin as well as anyone at Lord’s, that is a decent effort. “He’s coming along nicely,” Cook said. “He is improving all the time and he bowled really nicely in the nets today.”
In current form, Rashid is not miles behind Moeen as a batsman, either. He may be unorthodox and he may have been the No. 11 in England’s recent white-ball teams, but he has 10 first-class centuries to his name and, crucially, he has a confidence in his game that Moeen does not.
Moeen looks a little lost at present. He has paid for …
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