England all-rounder, Moeen Ali made a startling revelation in his autobiography saying he was called “Osama” by an Australian player during the 2015 home Ashes. However, Cricket Australia will seek clarification from their English counterparts about the particular incident.
Moeen Ali recalls when the Australian player called him “Osama.”
“An Australian player … turned to me on the field and said, ‘Take that, Osama’,” Moeen Ali recalled. “I could not believe what I had heard. I remember going really red. Have never been so angry on a cricket field.
Moeen Ali recalls the incident
“Told a couple of the guys what the player had said to me and I think (England coach) Trevor Bayliss must have raised it with Darren Lehmann, the Australians’ coach. Lehmann asked the player, ‘Did you call Moeen ‘Osama’?”. He denied it, saying, “No, I said: ‘Take that, you part-timer’. Obviously, I had to take the player’s word for it, though for the rest of the match I was angry.”
However, Moeen Ali scored 92 runs in the match and bagged five wickets, as England won the game and also bagged the series.
Moeen apparently spoke with the Australian player at the end of the series. The player in question denied the allegations and said nothing of that sort had happened.
However, a Cricket Australia official said the body would seek further clarification on this particular incident from the ECB as a matter of urgency.
“Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, or in society,” the official said.
“We have a clear set of values and behaviours that comes with representing our country. We take this matter very seriously,” the official further added.
However, Moeen Ali had a terrible Ashes tour of 2017/18 Down Under. In his book, he further added he doesn’t have any sympathy for the banned Australia trio of Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. He stated the whole team is rude.