Follow UsEngland decided to make wholesome changes to their playing XI against South Africa, bringing in specialists instead of all-rounders, and that thinned their batting order by some margin. With South Africa exerting early dominance with the ball, England found themselves in tatters and eventually were shut down for 170.
Even though Moeen Ali hasn’t been a part of the playing XI since England’s loss to New Zealand in the opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad, in all probability, he will return to the XI against Sri Lanka thanks to his familiarity with Chinnaswamy Stadium where England will take on Sri Lanka.
“It's very frustrating, obviously,” Moeen Ali said in the pre-match press conference. “Because you want to play and make some sort of difference. And yeah, it's one of those, it's difficult when you're not winning, and then when you're not playing on top of that, it's hard. But you prepare well, and you train well, and that's all you can do at the minute. So, my job is to do that. And when the time comes, and if I get the recall, then be ready and try and impact the team in winning games.
“I think if I do play it could go for a few runs because it's quite small and a flat wicket, but it's also good for batting. It's one of those grounds where scoring is quick and batting deep makes a big difference. If I get the nod, then I'm really looking forward to playing. And I grind out, I play franchise cricket, and it's a great place to play. It's a great venue. And yeah, I'll be pretty excited,” Moeen added.
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It is touted as the end of an era for England’s dominating run in ODI cricket, but Moeen doesn’t necessarily agree with that sentiment. Moeen, however, believes that with so many young blood coming through, this could be the start of a new era for English cricket.
“There's still a lot of players that can play for a long time. There's obviously a few of us who are a bit older, more than likely won't make the next World Cup, but there's a lot of players who have been around for years that will be, and I don't think it's the end of anything.
“I think it could potentially be the start of something else. Yeah, I mean, we're still in the competition; we're still in the tournament. We know it's a tough one now. We've got to win every game. But we know that we can do it. It's just more just getting the confidence back as a side and playing the way we know that we can play. But who knows what could be the start of or the end of, but no one's really thinking about that kind of stuff,” Moeen added.