Follow UsDespite a green top at Lord’s, had all-rounder Moeen Ali been fit, England skipper Ben Stokes admitted that there were high chances of the all-rounder featuring. But the scheduling forced the Three Lions to rest the off-spinner, given how the second and third Tests don't have a lot of break in between.
England’s spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel revealed that Ali has been bowling the ‘best’ that the coach has seen him bowl. However, Patel was also cautious in stating that they have tried to ‘look after it’ as much as possible. The off-spinner bowled 47 overs in the Ashes opener, picking up three wickets, conceding 204 runs.
"It's the best I've ever seen him bowl," Patel said.
"Fingers crossed that in the next couple of days, he gets to rest it and he gets to Headingley and he's ready to go," Patel said. "It was pretty disgusting at the end of the Test… we've tried to look after it as much as we can. It's looking in really good shape; it's healed really, really well,” he added.
On his injury, the former New Zealand spinner stated that Ali hasn’t bowled 30 overs in a day for a very long time since he announced his retirement from the longest format. Ali’s return was facilitated by the injury to Jack Leach, which ruled him out of the Ashes.
"Mo hasn't bowled 30 overs [in a day] in a while and that was always going to be part of the risk of bringing him in," Patel said.
"But we knew that and he knew that - and he still said yes, and we still asked him. Is there a way to look after your fingers? Just bowl. It's probably the only way to do it: bowl regularly. He bowls four overs a game so he's probably not used to it and he hasn't bowled with a Dukes for two years."