2017/18 Moeen is aiming to lick his wounds
is more robust and, in Brisbane certainly, the England player tackled him well, scoring 49 runs from 102 balls, 11 fours and a six, and at an acceptable strike rate of 48.00.
Indeed if Lyon has looked vulnerable at all in this series, it was when Moeen was batting with Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow in the first innings of both Tests. “He has set some very good fields and got me out four times now but when I look back at the four dismissals I’d say the stumping in the first innings in Brisbane could have gone both ways,” said Moeen of Lyon.
“And the lbw the other day [second innings in Adelaide] could have gone my way but didn’t. In between he had a good caught and bowled so, overall, I’m not too thingy about it.”
Moeen is not the type to get too ‘thingy’ about anything – it would be hard to pick a more laid-back soul in the England camp.
Even some moronic abuse from the crowd – he revealed someone had shouted ‘what time does your kebab shop open, mate?’ – was met with a casual shrug.
But such phlegmatism does not indicate a lack of drive, rather that his equilibrium is rarely upset.
“There is always going to be a time or a series when you won’t bowl or bat as well, so you don’t want to get carried away,” he said. “Lyon is bowling so well, everything from the revs to the areas he’s bowling.
“The hardest thing is you try and compare yourself to that and you try even harder and it’s quite difficult.
“But he has a lot more bowling under his belt than I have as an international spinner. I’m sure he has had periods when he has not bowled that well as well.
“I didn’t want to say I was a top spinner after the summer because I knew how difficult it was going to be in Australia. Even with the batting, never try to get too over-confident or down about things, just go with the flow.”