Two men went to Mo on the third day, with the dual pillars of the Pakistan middle order, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, removed by Moeen Ali for what was a pair of personal victories for England’s lone spinner during a tense and tantalising afternoon at Lord’s.
Misbah in particular has taken something of a shine to Moeen’s bowling during the recent encounters between the two sides, with the series in the United Arab Emirates over the winter – a 2-0 victory for the “home” side – including some brutal treatment from the Pakistan captain.
This trend continued into the 42-year-old’s century on Thursday, with the 23 balls he faced from the off-spinner during Pakistan’s first innings effortlessly taken for 32 runs, including 16 from one over of sweeps and reverse sweeps. The general consensus, after that gruelling schooling, was that a long series lay ahead for Moeen.
Yet the sequel between the two would last just one delivery midway through the afternoon session, as Misbah launched one out to cow corner, where a grateful Alex Hales snaffled up a smart running catch on the boundary rope; an almost identical heave on the same ground in 2010 against Australia convinced Shahid Afridi he should retire from Test cricket altogether.
Younis, meanwhile, had been skittish against the seamers during his two hours and 15 minutes at the crease – cats on hot tin roofs have been known to be more sedate – but would similarly fall to Moeen when, with 25 to his name, the 38-year-old right-hander, a batsman with more than 9,000 runs to his name, chopped a fuller delivery than first thought into his stumps after tea.
Batsman error on both occasions – and a touch of hubris in the case of Misbah – but two strikes against two of the world’s premier players of spin that will have done much for the confidence of an all-rounder whose bowling average has been climbing since an impressive first summer in the side two years ago in which he took 22 wickets in his first seven matches.
It is worth throwing into the mix too, when considering his two for 49 from 13 overs, that Moeen had earlier seen his opposite number, Yasir Shah, record the best figures for a visiting spinner against England at Lord’s since 1912, in what was a bravura performance from the most exciting wrist-spinner seen since Shane Warne was fizzing them down.
Yasir, who added to his overnight five‑wicket haul by deftly sliding a ball out of the front of the hand and into the front pad of Steven Finn, finishing with six for 72, now has 83 wickets to his name from his first 13 Tests, more than any bowler at this stage of their career. And – gulp – there is still a fourth innings to come.
Former England players recall that when Warne was tearing through their batting lineups like crepe paper in the 1990s and 2000s, a byproduct of the devastation was the mental effect it had on their own spin bowler. Phil Tufnell, it has been said, was one such cricketer who would relish the expectation to deliver that came with a turning pitch, but felt the heat more when an opponent like Warne was wreaking havoc with little assistance.
Comparing finger spinners with wrist-spinners is like apples with oranges, of course, and you will do well to find a more level-headed individual than Moeen. There are, however, tours of Bangladesh and India on the horizon – the former pending a safety assessment from the team’s security director, Reg Dickason – where both his temperament and skill will be tested.
It is one of the reasons why Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, has moved to hire Saqlain Mushtaq in a short-term consultancy capacity next week – he joins the side for the second Test at Old Trafford – in the hope that the 29-year-old Moeen can glean some nuggets of information from the former Pakistan spinner.
Should the two hit it off, the relationship could well continue beyond this initial 10-day assignment, addressing something of a curiosity in recent times that has seen England, light in the slow bowling department since the retirement of Graeme Swann, devoid of any such coach in their first team set-up.
