I belong now as a good spinner, claims Moeen
All-rounder lifted by 32 Test wickets this winter Credits Saqlain’s advice for major breakthrough
Learning on the job is harder in front of millions of critical eyes, but Moeen Ali has got there in the end. He is now England’s fully-fledged off-spinner in Test and one-day cricket, at home and abroad.
Last winter, in six Tests in Australia and New Zealand, he took five wickets. In six Tests this winter he has taken 32 at 24 runs each.
In the West Indies, he was England’s leading wicket-taker with 14 – although that says a lot about how England misjudged the pace-friendly conditions when selecting their Test XI, as well as Moeen’s progress.
Aged 31, Moeen is coming up to 4,000 overs in first-class cricket, almost half of them in Tests. Traditionally, that is the amount an apprentice finger-spinner would bowl in second-xi matches before he gained a regular county place, a slightly easier way to acquire the mindset and toughen the fingers, away from the spotlight.
“It feels good,” Moeen said about being England’s leading wickettaker, although West Indies won the series 2-1. “Since I’ve come back [against India last summer] I feel I am bowling well and I’m confident. I just want to bowl consistently.”
Moeen hailed the influence of former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who works with England as a consultant.
“Saqlain has been massive, he helps me so much tactically and technically,” Moeen said. “I feel like I’m getting better as a spinner.” The key has been “assessing conditions and the game situation. I used to look to attack straightaway with an attacking line with spin – you can’t always do that. I’m finally understanding my role in the team”.
Having fired in his off-breaks with minimal variation before this winter, Moeen went to the opposite extreme in the first Test in Barbados where he was seduced by the seabreeze into bowling too floatily and was freely driven for six. He got the right blend in Antigua and again in St Lucia, where six of his seven wickets were right-handers – not his usual left-handed fare.
With subtlety grafted on to his fine stock off-break, Moeen is mopping up tail-enders as never before and racing up England’s all-time charts. His average is expensive at 36 per wicket, but his strike-rate is excellent at one wicket every 10 overs. “I feel like I belong,” Moeen said. “People might think I don’t … because they think I’m not a proper spinner. But when you go past some of the greats, I think ‘maybe I am a good spinner. I must have done OK to get that many wickets’. I remember reaching 50 and thinking that was a massive achievement. Someone said ‘maybe 100?’ and I thought no chance. But to have that many now … I’ve done better than I thought I ever would.
“There will always be good days and bad days, but I am improving. I think I can get into the side as a bowler now, even if I didn’t bat.”
This winter, Moeen has raced past John Emburey’s 147 Test wickets and Fred Titmus’s 155: both Middlesex off-spinners needed around 100 balls to take a wicket, compared to Moeen’s 60. Only Jim Laker, on 193, and Graeme Swann, with 255, have taken more wickets with off-spin for England.
The price is that his batting has declined, his average down to 30, which is excellent for a No 8 but not commensurate with his ability. “It needs working on,” Moeen admits. “But I feel set, I will stay at No8 and I know it. I have got my head around that and it feels natural now. Being a bowler, I’m very happy with that.”
Next week Moeen begins England’s last ODI away series before the World Cup. “I love it when we play Tests and then the one-day guys come – it’s refreshing. The intensity is there but you don’t have the same scrutiny over five days,” he said. As for the World Cup, “it’s more about doing ourselves justice. We don’t feel we have to win it, it’s more, ‘This is the time to win it.’ ”