HANG ON A MO
Ali’s not ready to give up yet
MOEEN ALI has got his hunger back and wants to tuck into a feast of cricket across all formats during his remaining time at the top table.
But whether the 33- year- old gets to satisfy his appetite or not is another matter, after having to feed off scraps in both the Test and ODI sides over the past 18 months.
After arriving in South Africa for England’s first assignment of the Covid winter, Moeen was typically candid about his disappointing performances, during a period when his desire to play was not what it had once been.
He stepped away from the Test arena by choice after initially being dropped but once available again his international outings last summer only came in white- ball contests.
Now, with the carrots of two T20 World Cups and an Ashes series on the horizon, he appears ready to push his case forward across the board, before it is too late.
“I know I haven’t got that long left in international cricket,” said Moeen. “But I’ll try my best to do as much as I can to get to the level I want to get to.
“I’ve had enough of a break from Test cricket. I can give my all in the next couple of years to try and be part of this.
“That hunger has not been there in the last year or so, there’s been glimpses but I know deep down I haven’t done well over a period of time.
“I definitely lost a lot of that hunger but over the last six months I feel like it is coming back and I want to play Test cricket and play as much as I can. If the call did come I’d be keen.
“There’s an opportunity there to be one of the greatest sides ever and I want to be part of that.”
Moeen was part of the World
Cup- winning squad last year but missed out on being involved in the action at the business end of the tournament.
He is keen for history not to repeat itself in India next year.
At the moment it is only really in the T20 team – a side he captained in the summer in Eoin Morgan’s absence – where he remains an integral part of the first- choice line- up.
And he is determined to make it impossible to drop him from South Africa to the T20 World Cup in India, via Pakistan.
“Every player wants to get to the point where, when a World Cup comes around, you’re playing so well that you don’t get dropped,” he said.
“I want to get to a point where I’m playing so well that I don’t get dropped no matter what the size of the ground.
“It does have a knock- on effect, but I’m over these things now.”