Moeen Ali not too pleased with his batting contribution
Apr 6, 2019 at 2:19 PM
When he first burst on to the international stage for England, Moeen Ali was perceived as the all-rounder England was looking out for. In his first few series’, Ali made some priceless contributions down the order for England. His ton against Sri Lanka at Leeds almost saved the series for England. His knocks down the order during the 2015 Ashes had a great impact as well.
However, Ali’s batting form soon fizzled out. He was promoted right at the top to the opening slot for the team’s tour of UAE. Things went southwards quickly for Ali at the top, as he struggled miserably against Pakistan, and was soon demoted down the order. Currently, Ali is used more as a frontline spinner, and his batting doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
In a recent chat, Ali admitted that he would want to contribute more with the bat for England. “If you want to be good at something, you have to believe,” Ali said. “And I went through a phase where I probably didn’t believe I was a top-order batter.”I didn’t practice it as much, because I felt like my bowling was keeping in the team. I definitely haven’t done myself justice with the bat at Test level. I have shown glimpses in all three formats, but I have not done as well as I want. I know I can do better.”
Ali was quick to admit that batting with the tail lower down the order was a challenging task indeed. “The hardest thing is obviously batting at No. 8. If you’re batting with Jonny Bairstow, you can play normally, and Stuart Broad is batting quite well at the moment. But then you get lower down,” the southpaw said.