Moeen’s struggles laid bare in his toughest series yet
All-rounder looks ill at ease as his problems worsen with bat and ball, writes Nick Hoult in Perth
This was always going to be the most challenging tour of Moeen Ali’s career. Australia has crushed better off-spinners and his perceived weakness against the short ball would put his batting under stress, too.
In India last winter, his bowling lacked wicket-taking penetration and the world’s finest players of spin worked him around with their eyes closed.
Ten wickets at 64 apiece from five Tests dented his confidence to such an extent that, when the summer started, England picked Liam Dawson as a decoy, giving him the title of No 1 spinner in the hope that taking the pressure off Moeen would free him up. It worked. He morphed into a world-class all-rounder in his next match at Lord’s against South Africa, taking 10 wickets and hitting 87 in the first innings. It was the first time an England player had made a fifty and taken 10 wickets in a Test since Ian Botham.
But Beefy-esque Ashes feats are beyond him on this trip. Two wickets at 112 apiece by the end of the 12th day of this series sums up his ineffective bowling. By the close yesterday, 46 overs had elapsed since his last wicket, Josh Hazlewood in Australia’s first innings of the series.
Injuries have hindered him. A side strain stopped Moeen bowling until the final warm-up match in Townsville. He developed a sore finger in Brisbane because his hands had not had time to become accustomed to the sharper seam on the Kookaburra. It handicapped him in Adelaide and he played as a batsman in the two-day game in Perth last weekend so it could heal. Finding rhythm at the Waca, where all spinners struggle, is impossible. Moeen has not turned the ball as much as Australia’s Nathan Lyon and lacks his bounce, which, on Australian pitches, brings him such success.
There was, at least, more drift here thanks to the wind and fewer poor balls. He was brought on to bowl at Usman Khawaja, who has been out to off-spin 13 times in his Test career, but apart from one misjudged cut, he could not beat the left-hander’s bat. Still, the economy was there as Steve Smith took on the seamers.
Moeen often tinkers with his action, making little changes here and there as you would expect from a spin bowler still learning the art. Here, he has reduced his “gather” – before the point of delivery. It is a minor change and does not make a huge difference to the amount of turn, but it is a sign of a bowler having to rethink what should come naturally.
At least in India Moeen had his batting to fall back on. He is an excellent, skilful player of spin. He scored two hundreds in a series for the only time in his career and ended the series batting at five.
But, in Australia, that was always going to be so much harder. Moeen’s problems with the short ball would be exposed by highquality pace and his tactic of attacking Lyon has cost him. Lyon has not worked him out, it is just that Moeen has taken a chance and it has not come off. He has been out four times to the off-spinner trying to break his stranglehold. England, in the past, have done their best to take the pressure off Moeen but here they inexplicably put it back on by promoting him to six ahead of Jonny Bairstow, hoping it would imbue a sense of responsibility in his batting. It started well in Brisbane but Moeen has fallen away. Australia have not bowled short to Moeen as much as expected but, at the Waca, he came in against Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins sensing their chance. His dismissal was the softest of the series. Moeen had not attuned to the bounce and fended a regulation short ball to slip. If he had been at the crease longer, he would have left it. Like others in England’s order, he is finding that defending the short ball is harder than it might appear.