Magical Moeen’s moment of glory
IT takes confidence, character and special ability to go to a Test hundred with a six — and Moeen Ali showed he possesses all three when he swung Yasir Shah high into the Peter May stand to the delight of a packed Oval.
What a shot it was by Moeen to move from 97 to 103 as he shepherded England’s tail to perfection. And what a performance from a man who hasn’t looked back since his embarrassing dismissal to Yasir at Lord’s.
The hosts had required bailing out by their middle order and how Pakistan were made to rue dropping the Englishman with Pakistani heritage when he’d made just nine.
England finished the day on top after Moeen had reached his third Test century and Stuart Broad had nipped out Sami Aslam in the three overs that remained after the home side were dismissed for 328.
When England crashed to 110 for five after Alastair Cook decided to bat first, Pakistan were perfectly placed to upset the odds and claim a surprise share of this series.
Now they will need to bat exceptionally well today against an England attack who have been handed the conditions they craved here by Surrey in a surface that has pace, bounce and movement.
Pakistan had their chances. Jonny Bairstow should have been caught on 13 but was reprieved by the second no-ball in an over full of over-stepping from Wahab Riaz.
Then Azhar Ali fumbled at slip off the luckless Mohammad Amir to let Moeen off the hook.
Without those schoolboy errors — and a much tougher dropped chance when Azhar could not hold on to a full-blooded clip by Moeen off Yasir at short-leg on 15 — England would have been in big trouble.
Instead Moeen and Bairstow formed a partnership of 93 full of attacking intent.
Moeen was struck a nasty blow on the helmet by Wahab off his very first ball but soon retained the calmness that defines his cricket to stroke 13 fours and a six off the debutant Iftikhar Ahmed as well as the one that sailed over mid-wicket to see him reach his century.
‘The hit on the head made me wake up,’ he said. ‘It would have made me panic in the past but I’ve come a long way since then.’
Chris Woakes made 45 himself as the last five wickets added 218 and Pakistan began to tire after proving such a handful for the top order.
England need more from Alex Hales, Gary Ballance and, in particular, James Vince. Hales felt aggrieved to fall victim to a disputed catch from Yasir, with replays proving inconclusive, and appeared to mutter obscenities towards the leg-spinner on his way off before later tweeting a picture that was quickly deleted of the ‘catch’ that seemed to show it had not carried.
He’d be better off using social media to refund supporters over poor over-rates, as he did at Edgbaston.
It took a screamer of a delivery from Wahab, exceeding 90 miles per hour in taking three wickets on his return to the Pakistan side, to take Vince’s edge but he is still without a Test half-century and is now in his seventh match.
When Moeen charged Yasir recklessly in the first Test and was stumped by a mile, he sat beside assistant coach Paul Farbrace on the Lord’s balcony and questioned what he was doing. Since then he has had the mindset of the top-order batsman he is in county cricket and scored 149 runs at Edgbaston while being dismissed just once. Now this.
‘I was embarrassed after Lord’s and I’ve worked on my defensive game with Mark Ramprakash since then,’ added Moeen. ‘I told myself that even if I was batting at eight, I should imagine I’d done it at three as I do at Worcester.’
When Moeen finally holed out to hand Sohail Khan his second fivewicket haul in consecutive Tests, the first part of his job was done. Now all that remains to be seen is whether his off-spin is required or whether England’s four seamers are sufficient to lift them to victory and the world summit.