ALI’S TRICK OF THE CENTURY
Second spinner? Mo shows he’s the main man with Oval treble
I t IS safe to assume England will not be describing Moeen Ali as their second spinner again in a hurry after he yesterday provided the most dramatic and perfect climax to the 100th men’s test at the Oval.
Never before in 137 years of rich cricketing history had any bowler taken a test hat-trick at this famous old ground and not since tom Goddard almost 80 years ago had any England spinner claimed three wickets in successive balls.
Step forward the man England insist is far more comfortable being thought of as a specialist batsman who bowls a bit to create his own little piece of Oval history and give England an emphatic and hugely important victory.
the Oval, synonymous with more incident and drama than perhaps any other cricket ground in the world, has waited since 1880 for a test hat-trick and, remarkably, three almost came along at once on this landmark occasion.
First Ben Stokes took two wickets in two balls on Sunday as South Africa set out to try to save this third Investec test, and then toby Roland- Jones repeated the trick yesterday to dismiss temba Bavuma and Vernon Philander.
But neither could do what Moeen did to wrap up a 239-run win on the stroke of 2.30pm and give England an unassailable 2-1 lead in this rollercoaster ride of a series by taking the last three South African wickets to fall.
First Moeen ended the heroic resistance of Dean Elgar, who had shown levels of application and discipline that has been so lacking in all the fourth innings of this series to make 136 of South Africa’s eventual 252 all out.
then Moeen claimed Kagiso Rabada to another sharp catch from Ben Stokes with the last ball of his 16th over to leave South Africa nine wickets down and having to wait for his potential big moment.
thankfully Stokes, utterly superb in all three disciplines in this test, did not gatecrash the party by taking the final wicket, leaving Moeen to rap the ball into the huge pads of the half-forward Morne Morkel with the hat-trick ball.
the England team erupted as Morkel looked plumb to the naked eye but, inexplicably, umpire Joel Wilson proved himself to have no sense of occasion by somehow saying no. thank heavens for the Decision Review System!
Jonny Bairstow led the charge to challenge Wilson’s latest dodgy decision and, to no one’s surprise, technology showed the ball to be rattling into the stumps. Cue joy on the face of Moeen and his ecstatic team-mates.
It was the flawed selection of Liam Dawson for the first two tests that encouraged England to indulge in the questionable psychology of telling Moeen he was the No 2 slow bowler.
If it was a ploy to make him relax then it could have been perceived to have worked when Moeen took 10 wickets in the first test victory at Lord’s and comprehensively out-bowled Dawson.
Yet as soon as it became blindingly obvious that Dawson, after a second indifferent performance at trent Bridge, could not cut it at this level he was quietly discarded before this match and England could not kid Moeen any longer.
No matter. He is, and has been for the last three years, the best spin option England have and a man who should gain confidence from being considered a genuine all-rounder in test cricket rather than be cowed by it. THERE
has been a much better balance to England in this test. they have the three world- class all-rounders at their disposal — Stokes, Bairstow and Moeen — in the right places rather than getting themselves in a pickle over how best to employ them.
With the Ashes coming into focus even more rapidly with news that Australia’s pay dispute might finally be coming to an end, England had so many questions to answer after a truly horrible performance at trent Bridge.
Well, whether by accident or design, England stumbled on many of the answers here even though the recent history of this maddeningly inconsistent side makes caution necessary before getting too carried away. We all know what tends to happen after a big England win — an even bigger defeat.
What cannot be denied is that Roland- Jones looked very much the real deal in taking eight wickets on his debut and has added to the depth of seam bowling resources at England’s disposal that will be crucial against Australia.
Almost as encouragingly, tom Westley looked at home at the highest level and, even though his penchant for the leg side will be thoroughly examined in the challenges ahead, this was a promising start for him at No 3.
Most significantly, this was another emphatic demonstration of the talents that make Stokes such an important cricketer for England and potentially one of the greatest of all all-rounders.
Stuart Broad said on Sunday there was something about Andrew Flintoff in the way Stokes bowled, touching 90 miles per hour, but with respect to England’s previous talisman, Stokes is a much better cricketer than Flintoff.
the skill and maturity of his firstinnings century when conditions were at their most difficult was a major reason why England won this match, while his bowling on Sunday in particular was as good as anything he has produced.
Add catching that saw him pouch three close chances yesterday to give Moeen three of his four wickets — he has now taken 18 in the series at 14.72 apiece — and Stokes is very much the multidimensional real deal.
Whether this England test team are now the real deal remains to be seen because they have let us down too often in recent times to assume they will back up this performance with another stellar one at Old trafford on Friday.
But, when the force is with them, England are the most exciting and vibrant of teams. And they now stand one game away from their first home series triumph over South Africa since 1998.