Moeen plans his Test return
Captain Morgan rules out a switch for big-hitting star Denly’s place under threat as Malan waits in the wings
Moeen Ali is targeting a return to Test cricket this summer and wants to be a part of England’s tour to India next winter.
Moeen has not played Test cricket since he was dropped during the Ashes series. He turned down the chance to be a member of squads for the series in South Africa and Sri Lanka, saying he was not ready to cope with the pressures of Test cricket.
Instead, Moeen will play in the Pakistan Super League next month while England try to win in Sri Lanka. Without Moeen and Adil Rashid, England’s spin bowling looks threadbare with the inexperienced Dom Bess, Jack Leach, who has only just recovered from sepsis, and the uncapped Matt Parkinson.
“I’m looking to target this summer. I want to give myself a bit more time, go enjoy some T20 leagues,” Moeen said.
“There is a T20 World Cup coming up and I want to give myself as much experience as I can. Test cricket is not a place for tired minds or if you’re not fully into it. It is the hardest format and I want to make sure when I come back that I’m at my best. I still want to play and have ambitions to play Test cricket.”
Moeen was man of the match as England levelled the Twenty20 series against South Africa with a two-run victory off the final ball in Durban on Friday, hitting an 11-ball 39. The decider is in Centurion today.
England play six Tests this summer, three each against West Indies and Pakistan. The start of next winter is dominated by the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in October and November before a post-Christmas tour to India, where England will play five Tests.
“I do want to be part of that [India] for sure,” Moeen said. “I want to prove to myself and to other people that I am not a bad Test player.”
The debate over where Jos Buttler bats in the Twenty20 side is beginning to reflect the same issue involving Joe Root that has dogged the England Test team for years.
Whereas Root is England’s best Test player, Buttler is their finest at T20 and is capable of winning his team the series decider against South Africa at Centurion today in a blur of six hitting.
But just as debate over Root’s position in the batting order is revived whenever England struggle in Test cricket, where to fit Buttler in the T20 team is a question that threatens to run and run until October, when the T20 World Cup gets underway in Australia.
Buttler has opened for England in his past seven T20 matches since 2018, when he made such a success of the job for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League that he was recalled to the Test side. For England during that time he has averaged a touch under 30 with a strike rate of 160, a record bettered only by Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan.
It makes sense for England to open with Buttler. It gives him the most amount of balls possible to face, at the same time as fielding restrictions in the powerplay limit the number of boundary riders.
With his 360-degree scoring arc, Buttler makes the opposition captain’s job one of chasing shadows as he places the ball around the ground. But England also miss him as the finisher, they lack ball strikers further down who can hit sixes from the moment they reach the crease.
They have a plethora of big hitters at one, two and three with Jonny Bairstow and Roy their best opening pair of all time in the format. Joe Denly has carved out a successful career at domestic level in the top three, but is playing at six in this team and is struggling to adapt. Dawid Malan, the reserve batsman who scored a hundred in his last T20 innings for England batting at three, will also face that challenge if he replaces Denly today.
Buttler has scored two from four balls and 15 off 10 opening against South Africa, his ragged form from the Test series carrying into his best format. A flat-footed drive at a length ball from Lungi Ngidi did for him in Durban, but Morgan confirmed he will continue to open in Pretoria today.
“Not for Sunday, definitely not,” he said when asked if he was contemplating a change. “Jos is one of our greatest white-ball cricketers, as a batsman, never mind with the gloves. We believe him, Jason and Jonny are our top three at the moment, moving forward.”
Morgan views the result in this series, and ones against Australia and Pakistan this summer, as secondary to players developing their T20 skills, given it is a format England do not play that often. He is challenging his players to evolve into “finishers” late in the innings, freeing up Buttler to concentrate on opening, where Morgan believes he is capable of winning a game for England in the first few overs.
Ben Stokes could also become that middle-order hitter in the death overs, but his T20 numbers are way below his high standards. His unbeaten 47 at Kingsmead was his highest score for England in T20 cricket and he averages 17 with a strike of 131 from 25 games, not exactly the record you expect of the IPL’s most expensive foreign import.
Stokes has brute force to smash the ball out of the ground, but is also a touch player, who can take time to adjust to conditions when he first goes in to bat. That time does not exist in T20.
The statistics show that Moeen Ali is a stronger player against spin, but he went in at seven in Durban and smashed South Africa’s seamers in a brutal 11-ball 39. Moving him further up the order is an option, or employing him in a floating role.
Denly’s position is under threat from Malan today after scores of one and three in the series. He is unlikely to be called on to bowl, which means unless he is scoring runs there seems little point in persisting with him.
Death bowling from both sides has been excellent with Ngidi outstanding for South Africa with his slower balls and Chris Jordan nailing the yorker with regular success. Tom Curran was hailed the hero on Friday night for two wickets in the final over, but it was Jordan conceding only five runs and dismissing two batsmen in the 17th over that put England in command.
“Even when the focus has been on 50-over cricket and we’ve had one random T20 before or after a series, we’ve insisted on CJ flying out,” said Morgan. “He’s one of our best T20 bowlers; he has a huge impact on the team let alone the game so having him around is great for me as a captain because he’s another leader within that group.”