Mighty Moeen
All-round ace spins in to win it 10 men went to Mo!
® JOE ROOT hailed man-of-the-match Moeen Ali after the England Test captain began his reign with a crushing 211-run over South Africa.
Root laid the foundations for success at Lord’s yesterday with his first-innings 190.
But it was all-rounder Moeen (above) who took the plaudits after
MOEEN ALI ripped through South Africa with a careerbest bowling performance as England wrapped up victory in four days.
Moeen, who made a vital 87 in the first innings, once again showed his all-round ability to put his side ahead in the four-Test series.
On a dry surface that provided sharp turn and uneven bounce, Moeen took 6-53 to complete a 10-wicket match haul, ensuring the Proteas did not have a sniff of the taxing target of 331.
The win is England’s first in seven Tests. Moeen – who claimed the best figures by a spinner bowling England to victory in the fourth innings since Derek Underwood’s heroics in 1969 – said: “It was the best all-round performance of my career.
“It was a great wicket and I was trying to attack the batters as much as possible and it worked out well.
Dropped
“Everything went my way. It is almost like a fresh start for me, with a new captain.”
On a day when 19 wickets fell, England initially struggled with the bat after a collapse of seven wickets for 43 runs.
Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Moeen all fell for single-figure scores before Jonny Bairstow (51) made the most of being dropped on seven by Vernon Philander to rescue England.
And Bairstow then kick-started South Africa’s descent to 119 all out with an athletic legside catch to dismiss Heino Kuhn off Jimmy Anderson.
Moeen held a head-high return catch to dismiss Dean Elgar before JP Duminy mistimed a pull to give Mark Wood his first Test wicket on his longawaited return from ankle surgery.
After tea it all unravelled for South ® Africa, with fellow spinner Liam Dawson soon pinning dangerman Hashim Amla in front.
Moeen then got to work, with the tourists offering little resistance, before Dawson completed England’s victory when Morne Morkel was caught on the leg-side boundary.
England coach Trevor Bayliss said: “It was a complete performance and everyone played their part. We thought if we got to 300 we were going to be difficult to beat.”
Even though South Africa will be boosted by the return of Test captain Faf Du Plessis at Trent Bridge on Friday, they will have to replace banned pace bowler Kagiso Rabada.
And Coach Russell Domingo has returned home to be with his mother, who is on life support after a car crash.
Stand-in skipper Elgar remained positive, saying: “It’s only one game, we can change it from here.” NOTTINGHAM Outlaws paceman Luke Fletcher has been released from hospital after taking the full force of a drive from Warwickshire’s Sam Hain on his head as he followed through off his own bowling in a T20 match.
Fletcher, 28, said: “Hope the ball is recovering as well as me!” From Back page Overnight: England 458 119-1 Africa 361 ENGLAND 2nd Innings A Cook 69 K Jennings 33 G Ballance 34 J Root 5 J Bairstow 51 B Stokes 1 M Ali 7 L Dawson 0 S Broad 0 M Wood 28 J Anderson 0 Extras 5 Total (87.1 overs) .................... 233 Fall: Bowling: South SOUTH AFRICA 2nd Innings H Kuhn 9 D Elgar 2 H Amla 11 J Duminy 2 Q de Kock 18 T Bavuma 21 T de Bruyn 1 V Philander 19 K Maharaj 10 K Rabada 4 M Morkel 14 Extras 8 Total (36.4 overs) .................... 119 Fall: Bowling: