Mo’s spinning his way to top
Five-wicket haul seals series win
TREVOR BAYLISS finally admitted Moeen Ali was his side’s No1 spinner after his five-wicket haul sealed England’s 3-1 win over South Africa on a dramatic fourth afternoon in Manchester.
The England coach has spent the summer referring to Moeen as England’s second-choice slow bowler in a transparent attempt to place him under less pressure. But, with left-armer Liam Dawson dropped after the second Test, and Moeen finishing the series with 25 wickets, the pretence could be maintained no longer.
‘Maybe the psychology of him being the No 2 spinner is working,’ said Bayliss with a straight face. ‘But there’s no doubt he’s our No1 spinner, and we’re all hoping he turns into a world-class spinner.
‘What he’s done in this series puts him well on the way. He’s still got a bit of work to do, and knowing Mo he won’t leave anything to chance. He’s one of the hardest-working members of the team and he’s always the last to leave the nets.’
Bayliss was backed up by Joe Root, who became the first England captain to win a home series against South Africa since 1998.
‘Mo’s definitely improving all the time,’ said Root. ‘Hopefully this is not just a one-off series, and he can go on and do it again and again.’
Indeed, there can be no doubt now — Moeen is a genuine world-class all-rounder.
Yesterday, he first ensured England set South Africa a nearimpossible target and then burst through their batting just when it looked like this final Test might go to an intriguing last day.
It followed his ten wickets in the first Test at Lord’s and a hat-trick to clinch the third match at The Oval. He is the first man to claim 25 wickets and 250 runs in a four-match series.
Moeen took the last two wickets in consecutive balls to finish with another five and wrap up a 177-run win and a series victory against a South African team who had been unbeaten in Test cricket under Faf du Plessis.
Moeen’s contribution meant England were victorious within four days and completed their first home series triumph over South Africa since Alec Stewart and David Lloyd led them to a clinching win at Headingley 19 years ago.
It also means England captain Root began his reign with a notable win to retain the D’Oliveira Trophy — unlike predecessors Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss, who were all seen off by South Africa.
If it was Moeen’s 75 not out in England’s 243 all out that put this Test and series out of reach, then it was his breakthrough with the ball just before tea that ended what was starting to look like significant resistance from South Africa.
There have been only glimpses in this series, notably in Nottingham, of the class that has made Hashim Amla one of the greats but here he stood up for South Africa in the most demanding conditions.
World-class new-ball bowling by Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad had earned only the wickets of Dean Elgar and Heino Kuhn after South Africa had quickly wrapped up the England innings to leave Moeen unbeaten on 75.
Amla weathered the storm and, after he lost Temba Bavuma to the last ball before lunch, he was joined by his captain in a defiant stand of 123 that suddenly made a 380 target look not quite so insurmountable after all.
Moeen changed all that when he trapped Amla on 83 and needed the help of technology after umpire Kumar Dharmasena had turned down what looked like a much more obvious lbw than the one he gave to deny Jonny Bairstow a Test century.
The Old Trafford pitch, another great Test surface, suddenly seemed to regain its bite as Moeen quickly saw off Quinton de Kock and Theunis de Bruyn with the help of sharp close catches from Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes.
Anderson has had an outstanding Test of his own on his home ground after the honour of having an end named after him — and he confirmed that he remains as potent as ever by seeing off Du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada.
The last word went to Moeen as the best travellers in cricket crashed to a rare away defeat. It completed a miserable tour that has seen them lose to England in Test, one-day and Twenty20 and flop in the Champions Trophy.
England’s win sees them leapfrog Australia into third place in the Test rankings ahead of their three-match series against West Indies, starting next week at Edgbaston.