It is perceived by many that the England cricket team has two main weaknesses within its current line-up. Firstly, they do not have an established pair of openers – Adam Lyth, popular as he may be within the national set-up, failed on virtually every chance he was given to provide a solid platform on which to build at the top of the order this summer – and secondly, the constant guessing and double-guessing of the selectors around whether a fourth seamer or the perceived luxury of a spinner are required when Tests go to a final day means that it is hard to say what England’s first-choice bowling line-up really is.
That this “weakened” side are currently reigning Ashes champions may be as much about the Aussies’ own failings as England’s dominance over the sport, and it is plain for all to see that Australia will be back fighting hard for revenge at the next series. But Moeen Ali has come up with a solution that could see consistency at both ends of the batting line-up – even if he is heaping the pressure onto himself by uttering it out loud.
The idea of a player opening both the batting and bowling is something seen regularly at school level, but amongst professionals the strain is generally considered too great to be endured for long. Opening the batting is a hard enough skill to master by itself; so too is producing consistently threatening and inexpensive spin bowling. But Ali thinks that he might be able to merge the two roles, effectively freeing up a place for an additional batman or bowler in the starting XI.
There have been many spin bowlers who know one end of the bat from the other in modern times – the likes of Daniel Vettorri, Shane Warne and Graeme Swann all spring to mind – but all of these great players batted some way down the order and were bowlers first and foremost.
Ali’s bowling figures in Tests for England certainly don’t put him in the Shane Warne bracket of spinners – so far he has taken 45 wickets at an average of 37.68 – but that is not to say he can’t get there in time, and when he produced career best figures of 6/67 against India at Southampton in 2014, he certainly looked a world-beater.
Joe Root can bowl a bit of spin on a decent track and offers world-class batting, whilst Adil Rashid would be most peoples’ first choice out-and-out spinner – but it will be interesting to see if Ali can balance both of these disciplines. If he can then he would be a decent long-shot for punters to look at when considering who might be either (or both) the top run-scorer and wicket-taker at the next Ashes series, with enticing odds being offered by the likes of Betway on dry and dusty tracks that should suit both his styles of play.
But he is still relatively unproven batting at the top of the order – and that’s the main problem. Effectively, England would always have the services of a decent spin-bowler, which offers huge benefits if the tracks produced offer favourable conditions. However, on a firm, grassy pitch, an opener with a batting average of 30.58 as an automatic selection seems foolhardy to say the least.
Much depends on whether or not Ali will be able to build on both of those disciplines – certainly both sets of figures are respectable, if not spectacular – but at present, this appeal to help England by volunteering to play every single game from now on sounds like desperation from a player who is running the risk of being overlooked entirely.
