It might seem odd to believe at first, but the fact that Moeen Ali has outplayed Ben Stokes statistically as an all-rounder speaks a lot about England’s success as a Test unit. The Lord’s Test against the Proteas turned out to be an absolute cakewalk for the hosts on the fourth day, with 19 wickets falling in all throughout the day’s play.
The hero of the day for England was none other than Moeen Ali, as his off-spin proved to be just too much for the already depleted South African outfit. Ali took a ten-wicket haul in the game and ran through the helpless South African batting unit with his sheer discipline.
Post the game, coach Trevor Bayliss was in full awe of the spin bowling all-rounder. For a spinner, Ali’s record is simply phenomenal in England, regarding the fact that the pitches aren’t that spin friendly. To add that with his priceless batting in the lower order, Ali becomes an absolute asset.
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“We’ll stick with one spinner and one batter that bowls a little,” Bayliss said. “And that’s important for Mo more than anything. He wants to be in the team as a batter that bowls a bit so we’ve selected him as a batter and the second spinner. “It takes that little bit of pressure off him. He does see himself as a batter first and a spinner second. And I suppose that doesn’t mean he’s still not our best spinner but his No. 1 job is to bat.”
Lauding the team combination, Bayliss said,
“The combination we had in this game could play on a lot of wickets,” he said. “We’re lucky that we have Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Ali who can bat five, six and seven. That allows us to have three other pace bowlers and another spinner. Somewhere along the line, we could throw in someone else in one of those positions, whether it is another batter, another pace bowler if we need one. It just gives us plenty of options.”
The England coach added that watching Alastair Cook play without the captaincy burden was a great sight.
“He’s loving it! I was having a bit of a laugh watching him in the field. He was out running around in the covers. He looked like he was enjoying it. For someone in that stage of his career, it’s a good sign,” said Bayliss, about the former England captain.
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