Daily Mail

ROOT: I REGRET NOT HANDLING MO BETTER

- By PAUL NEWMAN Cricket Correspond­ent

JOE ROOT believes he could have done more as England captain to ensure Moeen Ali gained the full appreciati­on his Test career deserves. Root yesterday paid tribute to Moeen, who has confirmed his Test retirement at the age of 34 after 64 games that brought him nearly 3,000 runs and almost 200 wickets with his off-spin. But the England captain also admitted he could have better handled a player who suffered for his versatilit­y and commitment to the team, notably when he was regularly shuffled up and down the batting order. ‘At times he was under-appreciate­d,’ said Root. ‘Not within the dressing room but outside of it. I’ll certainly remember a lot of amazing times but when I’m finished as captain there are things I’ll regret not doing slightly differentl­y.’ Principal among those regrets is England’s handling of Moeen in 2019 when, despite taking more Test wickets than anyone in the world over the previous 12 months, he was dropped after just one bad performanc­e against Australia at the start of the Ashes. Moeen, who had lost his place in the one-day side during the triumphant World Cup campaign earlier that summer, asked to take a short break from Test cricket but then saw England remove his full central contract. It proved to be, despite a couple of false dawns, the beginning of the end of his red-ball England career. ‘That did break me a little bit,’ Moeen told The Guardian yesterday. ‘I had a poor game, yes, and rightly got dropped. I don’t mind getting dropped if you’re not playing well. ‘It’s no excuse but towards the end of the World Cup I didn’t play. We then had a Test against Ireland in which I hardly bowled and then we just had two days indoor training before the

Ashes because it rained so much. I was at the peak of my bowling but I didn’t get the preparatio­n I needed.’ Root preferred not to dwell on what he could have done differentl­y to help Moeen and instead hailed a significan­t cricketer who will carry on playing in white-ball formats for England and in domestic and franchise cricket. ‘He’s achieved some wonderful things in Test cricket and he’s been one of the great guys to play alongside,’ added the England captain. ‘He’s also been a wonderful role model and I hope on the back of what he has done there will be many young boys and girls who will want to follow in his footsteps. He’ll be a huge loss to us and Test cricket.’

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom