Moeen Ali’s identity crisis doing no good to England’s post-World Cup march

On Tuesday, Moeen Ali, in the absence of Morgan in the second innings, might have led the English side to a rather innocuous defeat at the hands of Ireland but that, one would imagine, would be the least of his concerns heading into white-ball legs against both Pakistan and Australia. Put simply and softly, the Ireland series was fruitless for the all-rounder: he averaged 0.50 with the bat and went wicketless in all three matches whilst conceding 115 runs in total. In other words, the difference between the number of runs he scored and the number of wickets he took in the series was one. These are figures no player would be proud of at any level, let alone the vice-captain of England at the international stage, but while for most players a series like this would be nothing but a mere anomaly, for Moeen, however, this has, in a way, become the new normal. 

For, after breaking into the side in 2014 as an aggressive top-order batsman who can be trusted to do a fine job in the middle with the ball, Moeen has now transformed into a defective Ravindra Jadeja prototype who, unlike the latter, has no strong area of expertise. It is not an opinion but a hard fact, and the numbers suggest the same. 

And that, exactly, is where the problem lies for Moeen: he is neither a reliable batsman nor an effective bowler. He was both not so long ago, but those days are long gone. With the ball, barring the three-wicket haul against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in the World Cup which, ironically, ended in a defeat, Moeen has not delivered a single performance of note in his last 23 innings - dating back to June 25, 2018 - while with the bat his last defining knock came almost three years ago at the Oval versus the Windies where his unbeaten 25-ball 48 helped England triumph via D/L method. In fact, dating back to Jan 2018, in his last 31 knocks, Moeen has averaged 16.92 with no fifty-plus scores to his name.  

So what’s the one attribute that’s forcing the selectors to lean towards him despite it being evidently clear that he could neither be trusted with the bat nor the ball? Experience, one could argue. He is, behind Morgan, Buttler and Root, with 105 caps to his name, the fourth-most experienced ODI cricketer in the England squad. Yet rarely has this number ‘105’ transpired into a veteran-esque display on the field. 

Certainly, England, who are now embarking on their journey for the next three ICC events, would be better off with a reliable spin-bowling all-rounder - especially given the fact that two of the next three ICC events will take place in India - but whether Moeen is the right option remains to be seen, especially when there is a ready-made fit in the form of Liam Dawson waiting on the sidelines. 

Dawson, who is, in a way, nearing his peak, knows plenty about the sub-continent having played multiple seasons in both the Pakistan Super League and the Bangladesh Premier League and to go along with the fact that he, unlike Moeen, is an out-and-out specialist left-arm spinner, his List A batting average of 32.98 also speaks volumes of his batting ability. In fact, it was only prior to the commencement of the Ireland ODIs that his 4/21 and 21* clinched Team Vince a victory over Team Moeen in an intrasquad warmup match. Whether he’d cut it for the international level is a question that can only be answered if he’s tried and tested out, but there is every case for him to at least be given a chance right now ahead of Moeen Ali, who has been carried with the ball by Adil Rashid and with the bat by a ton of ludicrously talented cricketers.