A quick fix that has lasted two years
When Moeen Ali made his Test debut two years ago, he was picked as a stylish No6 batsman who could do a passable job as the only spinner. It was a clever short-term solution while England got their bearings after the Ashes whitewash, allowing them to appraise whether Moeen was a Test batsman and wait for a slow bowler to emerge. The quick fix has lasted two years, however. England are little the wiser about Moeen, his role – he has batted as an opener and everywhere from No6 to No9 – or who the next spinner might be.
For the theoretical good of the team, Moeen has allowed himself to be turned into an oxymoron – a bits-and-pieces Test cricketer; an unsettled regular. It’s like a casual relationship that keeps bumbling along because both parties are afraid to ask: where are we going with this?
At the start of the 2014 summer, Moeen’s runs at No6 allowed England to play four proper seamers; below him were Matt Prior, Chris Jordan, Stuart Broad, Liam Plunkett and James Anderson. Ben Stokes was on the naughty step and Chris Woakes was a good county player. England needed Moeen’s runs.
They don’t really need them any more, especially as there aren’t that many of them. With Stokes and Woakes automatic selections at the moment, England should consider only one thing when they pick a spinner: who is the best in the country? If they think that is Moeen, and he bowled well enough on Saturday to make that a legitimate argument, they should pick him.
In that sense, his shot against Yasir Shah was a red herring. Yet it also betrayed the mindset of a player who, despite playing 26 out of 27 Tests since his debut, doesn’t really know where or if he belongs in the side. The manner of his shot against Yasir evokes Sir Ian Botham’s comically ill-conceived attempt to impose himself on the 1989 Ashes, but in some ways it brought to mind another infamous Ashes duck, Chris Lewis’s confused dance against Tim May in 1993. Both his and Moeen’s shots looked like those of men whose subconscious was begging for a break. There is no shame in that.
There is so much to admire about Moeen. He is England’s most elegant left-hander since David Gower, selfless to a fault and a hugely impressive man. However, his overall Test statistics are modest for an all-rounder – he averages 29.82 with the bat and 41.47 with the ball – and, while his batting record should be qualified by his selfless approach and changing role, his bowling has regressed since his high-class performance against India in 2014. Since the start of last summer Moeen averages 50 with the ball; in 2016 he averages 92. There are still good spells and good balls but not in sufficient quantities; crucially, he does not offer control.
With the bat he has reached 50 only seven times in 44 innings, although he has suffered because of his own versatility. At times during last summer’s Ashes he was effectively a specialist No8 batsman. For a player of his class, it was close to an insult.
If he is left out for the second Test on Friday or later in the series, there should be little doubt that he will be back. England will need at least two spinners in the winter against India, who will surely prepare vicious turners, given England’s strengths and weaknesses and the success of such tactics against South Africa last year. England will need Moeen’s bowling – and also his batting, for all things being equal he is one of their best players of spin. It is not just spin bowling that is a problem for England; they also have few expert players of slow bowling, and James Taylor is badly missed.
England need good players of spin right now to combat the wonderful Yasir but, as Moeen showed in the first Test, all things are not equal at the moment. Jos Buttler spoke of the “relief” of being dropped from the Test team and Moeen might feel the same if it happens. Some restorative county cricket, bowling in what should be helpful conditions if this heatwave continues, would allow him to reappraise his game and his aims before a probable return in the winter. Leaving him out now has obvious short- and medium-term benefits.
Lovers of proverbs may disagree but for Moeen a rest is certainly preferable to a change. There are some who would like to send him for languor management and redefine his game. To adapt the old cliche about fiery sportsmen, if you take the ice out of his game he will not be the same cricketer. When it comes to run-scoring, his current balance of “how” and “how many” is out of whack but the way to change the latter is not to change the former. He needs clarity of purpose and better shot selection.
There should be less stigma in being omitted, and this is one of the few things cricket can learn from football. Sir Alex Ferguson, who became a master of rotation, would provisionally plan his selection 10 games ahead. He once gave Peter Schmeichel, one of the world’s best players, two weeks off because he was shattered mentally.
Teams should always be picked with half an eye on the future. England have taken that approach with moving Joe Root to No3, a calculated short-term risk for an almost certain long-term gain. The same is true of the spinning position; although they are 1-0 down and already in serious danger of a surprise defeat, they should already be thinking about the tour to India.
That is another reason to give Adil Rashid a chance now. He will probably play in India and, although Pakistan are not the ideal team to play him against, England need to give him the chance to feel comfortable in Test cricket. His improvement in the limited-overs side has been dramatic, and surely a partial consequence of the complete trust shown in him by Eoin Morgan.
Pakistan have nine right-handers, whose bat he would turn the ball away from – although paradoxically, Pakistan’s left-arm seamers might keep Moeen in the side because of the rough they created. They also have a fragile tail that Rashid could potentially run through and his selection would help legitimise English leg-spin, which has been treated with suspicion for decades, and potentially make things easier for someone like Mason Crane to eventually come into the team.
There is still a chance that Monty Panesar’s rehabilitation will allow him to become England’s main spinner for the next few years. He is only 34, which is barely middle age for a slow bowler, and at his best is still easily the best spinner in England. He might not be able to do press-ups at 42 but he could still be taking Test wickets.
He is not ready yet, however, so for now it is between Moeen and Rashid. Their first-class averages – 38 and 41 for Moeen, 35 and 35 for Rashid – reflect the perception that one is a batsman who bowls, the other a bowler who bats. In 2014, England needed the former. Now they need the latter.
• This is an extract taken from the Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe just visit this page, find ‘The Spin’ and follow the instructions.
