Emergence of Moeen may put England on rails again

THIS series is swinging England’s way after the ineptitude at Lord’s.

India’s match winner there, Ishant Sharma, is injured. England’s match winner, James Anderson, has been reprieved and is on fire. England’s captain is back, and a new allrounder and new wicketkeeper have been unveiled.

At Anderson’s home ground of Old Trafford, the various sub-plots of this enthralling series between two mid-table countries might fuse with the increased support for An- derson to be the makings of this fresh England team.

England went to Old Trafford this time last year similarly buoyant, yet Anderson did not fire on his home ground. Australia won the toss, batted first and declared at 527 for seven. Anderson did not take to the realignment of his home square and finished with nought for more than 100. England held on for a draw thanks to Kevin Pietersen and rain on the last day.

This England team did exceptionally well at Southampton after winning the toss — and four major reprieves by the umpires and Indian fielders: when Alastair Cook was dropped on 15, when Gary Ballance was not given caught behind for 10, when Ian Bell was not given lbw for nought, and when Jos Buttler was reprieved by an Indian slip-fielder, if not the third umpire as well.

The next stage in England’s evolution is to build their innings more safely if they bat first, and to show they can win if they bat second.

The evolution of any side is accelerated by the presence of an allrounder — beyond the now-nor- mal wicketkeeper/batsman. Since the retirement of Jacques Kallis, the true allrounder has become rarer still. Various countries have batsmen who can bowl, such as Shane Watson, JP Duminy and Angelo Mathews, but true allrounders — just about worthy of a place for either batting or bowling — number three. One is the New Zealander, Corey Anderson. A second is Moeen Ali.

It is rare for any test spinner to have a field day now in England as so few pitches wear and tear. Since the 1960s, only six England spin- ners have taken six wickets in an innings, as Moeen did at the Ageas Bowl: his fellow offspinners Eddie Hemmings, Peter Such and Graeme Swann, and the left-armers Derek Underwood, Phil Tufnell and Monty Panesar.

Should Moeen go back to Worcester and work on his red-ball bowling, so that he can make the most of the slow turning pitches which now prevail in the West Indies, where England have their next test assignment in the spring? Or does he become a regular in the World Cup team as well, and develop a white- ball style that will probably detract from his test bowling?

A third allrounder is coming over the horizon. India made a major mistake in omitting Ravi Ashwin, if not at Trent Bridge, then at the Ageas Bowl, which was drier than they expected. Ashwin could bat soberly at No 6 or 7 as well as turn his off-breaks past the edge of England’s left-handers.

England fans can believe their team is on track if they win this week and go to the Oval 2-1 up. The next test begins on Thursday. — © The Sunday Telegraph, London