Ashes: Moeen Ali is back in squad, a look at his performance

After England’s star off-spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the Ashes series due to a stress fracture in his back, Moeen Ali was reinstated into the test team. On Monday, Ali disclosed that the England Cricket Board (ECB) had approached him about reversing his test retirement. The all-rounder frequently spoke with Test Coach Brendon McCullum, Test Captain Ben Stokes, and Managing Director Rob Key. Moeen Ali was named as Jack Leach’s replacement by the ECB on Wednesday. After England’s 10-wicket victory over Ireland, Leach underwent scans, which showed he suffered a stress fracture in his lower back.

In addition to taking over for Jack Leach as a bowler, Moeen Ali is also a reasonably effective batsman. England played under Joe Root’s leadership after Moeen resigned in September 2021, and a lot has changed in their Test structure since then. Ben Stokes was named the Test team’s captain in April 2022, and a brand-new method of play was developed. As soon as the term “Bazball” was coined, England’s test match fortunes drastically shifted. Their Test Coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname inspired the word ‘bazball’. The bazball style of play essentially involves playing aggressive cricket with both the bat and the ball; we covered bazball in more detail in our earlier article. With 11 victories from their previous 13 games, they have already had great success with this brand of cricket.

Moeen Ali 

In addition to being a great spinner, Moeen Ali replaces Jack Leach in the batting department as well. Given that he is a naturally aggressive batter, the ‘Bazball’ style of play is anticipated to suit him even better.

Ali has participated in 64 test matches and has 195 wickets under his belt, with 5 five-wicket hauls and 1 ten-wicket haul. In addition, he has 2914 runs scored over this time, five centuries, and 14 half-centuries to his credit.

Moeen Ali Batting Stats

Matches	Innings	Runs	Highest score	Average	Strike Rate	50s	100s	200s
64	111	2914	155	28.29	51.15	14	5	0

Moeen Ali Bowling stats

Matches	Innings	Runs	Wickets	BBI	BBM	Economy	Average	Strike Rate	5W	10W
64	112	7149	195	6/53	10/112	3.62	36.66	60.79	5	1

Moeen Ali against Australia

Moeen Ali has had a lot of difficulty playing against Australia, especially with the ball in hand. The right-arm off-spinner has only taken 20 wickets at an average of 64.45 and a strike rate of 100.5 in 11 games versus Australia. His performance with the bat against them hasn’t been all that impressive either; he’s scored 476 runs at an average of 25.05, including two half-centuries.

Only time will tell whether Moeen Ali will make a competent replacement, but one thing is certain: using the Bazball strategy, Moeen might drastically improve his test batting statistics.

Also Read: What is Bazball? Will it work in the Ashes?

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