Mo Cuts Lankans Down to Size

Mo

It was low key, and it probably doesn’t mean a great deal, but a win is a win. You can’t ask for more than that.

Our much maligned ODI team started their tour of Sri Lanka with a convincing win yesterday. They dispatched Sri Lanka A, whose performance probably warranted an F, with consummate ease. Even the captain got some runs. Wow.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Moeen Ali, who picked up three wickets with the ball –  out-bowling James Tredwell in the process – and then bludgeoned a 21-ball half century. That’s fast by Rohit Sharma standards.

At one stage England were 24-0 after two overs. The first over, bowled to Alastair Cook, was a maiden. Moeen hit every single ball of the second over for four. Nicely done.

Mo’s innings has really put the cat amongst the pigeons as far as selection’s concerned. Many people expected Hales to be a key man at the top of the order, but The Beard To Be Feared actually has a slightly better strike rate in domestic ODI cricket (101 compared to Hales’ 99). Not a lot of people know that.

What’s more, it’s a bit of a myth that Hales starts every innings like a steam train. Hales actually plays his best innings when he plays himself in first. He usually goes berserk after the first few overs of the powerplay.

Mo on the other hand usually attacks from the word go. He’ll drive anything that’s pitched up with a flamboyant, full swing of the bat. He’ll attack the short stuff too. It won’t always be pretty – he’ll look reckless on occasions – but it will be fun to watch.

In an ideal world, most of us would like to see Hales and Moeen opening together. However, as that breaks the eleventh commandment – Alastair must play come what may – Hales might have to take a backseat for a while.

The problem for Hales is that the manner of his dismissals against India were a bit worrying. What’s more, a Hales / Cook opening partnership doesn’t quite seem to have the right chemistry. That’s not to say it won’t work well in the future, but at the moment it makes sense to experiment a bit.

Don’t be surprised if Hales comes back into the reckoning in Australia. England probably want to play two spinners in Sri Lanka, but I doubt we will in the World Cup. If Moeen out-bowls Tredwell in the next few games too, an extra spot suddenly becomes available. That could well present Hales with an opportunity, even if he doesn’t open.

The other positive from yesterday was the performance of Chris Woakes, whose eight overs cost just twenty runs. Steve Finn also picked up a couple of wickets, although the jury’s still out as far as I’m concerned. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him bowl with genuine pace.

Chris Jordan’s form is also beginning to concern me: his five overs cost almost fifty runs. When he burst onto the scene last year, Jordan looked like a real find. However, his form in the second half of the summer was patchy.

The big question marks for me are (a) Jordan’s consistency, and (b) does he actually do enough with the ball? If you’re not express pace or particularly tall, you’ve got to either seam the ball around, generate late swing, or possess the control of Glenn McGrath.  I’m not exactly sure what Jordan’s strengths actually are.

Anyway, it’s onwards and upwards. Let’s hope the middle-order gets some match-practice on Sunday. It might help if the second (and final) warm-up game is a bit closer.

And isn’t it nice to have some actual cricket to talk about again? Not that the last couple of months haven’t been fun.

James Morgan

Written in collaboration with 888 Sport

19 comments

  • On the question of Woakes or Stokes I would choose Woakes because he is more of a bowler than Stokes. We need to bring him on and I see Stokes although very talented, as more of an all rounder.

  • My worry about Moeem is his weakness against the short ball which was highlighted in the test matches. Opening in Australia on fast bouncy pitches may be a bit of a risk.

    Also,if he gets out early it looks like Bell is batting at 3. So we are then back with the two ‘steady as she goes’ players. Cook and Bell are quite capable of batting for 30 odd overs at 5 an over.

    If Moeen is not going to open the batting in The World cup, why play him there now? Surely this is the time to start getting a system and a settled team?

    • It’s a long build up. There’s time to suck it and see. So many places up for grabs and a lot of equally talented players. Difficult choices. Cook and Hales never seemed to quite work. Obviously experimenting. Hard on Hales.

      • Hmm, I think many of the other sides have a settled opening pair by now Jenny. We have had 4 years to prepare and we still don’t know our best opening combination.

        The whole reason for keeping Cook as captain (according to Strauss) is because we have invested 3 years in him. Pity we didn’t invest some of that time in other players. Mind you, when the policy is to fit a team round Cook rather than pick your best team, the outcome is understandable.

        • The other sides have been lucky enough to find an opening pair that fit. I take your point about the inadvisability of building a team around any one person unless that person is key. Cook is the preferred captain and I do not believe for one minute that’s it’s for no reason other than his family and educational background. His form is poor and he is obviously struggling with his technique but he must have something important to give or he would not be there. There are no signs of dissent within the team, the management and a lot if the public like him and want him to succeed. Agree a lot has been invested in him and that obviously counts for much from the management point of view.

          Personally I think he might have been better standing down if only to save him all this castigation and pressure. If he can score I think he has value because I believe we need at least one of the openers to be reasonably steady and consistent all be it in an ODI formula. The other can let rip, as with Hales and Lumb at Notts. The thing is Cook has to score and score big and it’s just not happening. That is the huge concern.

          If he fails again in Sri Lanka I can’t guess the outcome. In spite of the not changing horses thing I can’t see how keeping him on could be justified. We would have to have Bell as the replacement because in my view the only other player in equally poor form of late has been Morgan. For all his cricketing brain he can also be bizzare when captaining the field, at times.

          You have probably stopped reading by now so I will give it a rest.

          Always a pleasure to read your tweets.

    • The point about Mo being weak against the short ball is an interesting one. It has kind of come out of the blue, as he’s never had a problem with it before (and it’s not like India’s attack is much quicker than county bowlers either). Personally I don’t think there’s anything glaringly wrong with his technique ie I don’t think there’s anything to suggest he should struggle with the short stuff (he’s not talk and static as Hick once was). Consequently I just think he got himself into two minds last summer, and that’s why he got out that way a couple of times. His normal instinct is to attack, and he usually does so effectively, so perhaps he should just do that. Alternatively he could just do a Steve Waugh and put the shot away entirely.

      As long as he’s decisive (either way) I believe he will overcome the problem. I read an interview with Steve Rhodes (worcs coach) last summer who said he was genuinely shocked Mo had got out to short balls, as it’s always been a strength of his in the past. Personally I think he wanted to attack, then thought ‘Erm should I be playing more conservatively as this is test cricket now’, (in the heat of the moment) and confused himself a bit.

      • He’ll sort out the short ball problem. As Julie Andrews didn’t quite sing, I have confidence in Mo.

  • Aye, the Discarded Cook Openers Xl are turning into a pretty formidable prospect? :-)

  • Well, the other side say that we complain about everything. This article certainly disproves that. This was Sri Lankan A. The bowler who got tonked for six fours off an over that also included a wide then promptly strained something in the field and did not bowl again. The match was then wiped out by rain and, thanks to their abrupt start, England won on the Duckworth-Lewis method. It’s certainly not a lot to get excited about!

    I do admire Mo, though. In interviews he comes across like a man surrounded by Playstation-fixated little boys. He turned himself from part-time spinner to match winner within the space of a couple of tests. He played the most elegant century scored by a batsman not called “Ian Bell” in years. If you give him a job, he just gets on with it. You only have to hear him talk for a few moments to know that this is a guy you could trust with your life.

    I do worry about him if he’s going to open in the world cup, given the weakness he’s shown against the short ball at times. I think Johnson and Steyn are going to put a few questions to him that he might not be asked in my beloved Sri Lanka.

    But I love the guy to bits and hope he does well.

  • Meanwhile, Chris Jordan is another victim of that serial abuser of young England fast bowlers, David Saker.

      • Seconded. As details emerge, it will be interesting to discover if there’s any known reason why his helmet failed to protect him properly. I can’t think of an obvious immediate parallel to this incident.

        But that’s hardly the primary consideration. I’m sure everyone here at TFT will have their thoughts with Phil and his family. And we keep our fingers crossed for good news.

        • Maxie,
          From what I’ve read, I believe the impact was behind the left ear, so actually below the helmet. But an awful injury regardless to someone who is, by all accounts, a smashing bloke.
          Thoughts and best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.

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