Moeen Ali trying to stay positive despite England's sorry run of ODI defeats
Moeen Ali insists there are still plenty of reasons for England to be cheerful despite a fifth ODI defeat in a row and another series loss.
The England vice-captain could probably put himself into the positive category following a first score of fifty since his ton against the Windies in Bristol back in 2017, but the team has simply not fired on all cylinders for a while.
That spectacular innings was soon overshadowed by what occurred later that night on a Bristol street with a couple of his team-mates, but it shows just how long ago it was considering England have won two World Cups in the interim.
Of course Moeen has spent most of his time lower down the order in a batting lineup that has been England’s greatest of all time in the format, so they haven’t needed him to deliver for them as much as they appear to do now.
With no Joe Root or Jonny Bairstow out here due to availability and injury, and no Eoin Morgan or Ben Stokes due to retirement, England are trying out some new combinations, and even though they appeared to work on Sunday in clubbing 342-7, they still lost.
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Moeen Ali acknowledges the crowd after getting to 50 (MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images)“It’s a difficult one,” said Moeen. “Because one guy's got 80-odd, one guy’s got 90-odd and Olly Stone’s bowled the way he’s bowled today and we lost.
“Jos and myself are not ones for saying a lot of positive things when we lose but this was actually a difficult one because we weathered the storm quite well early on when the wicket probably did do a bit more. To get a score like that was really good, but we probably just didn’t get the early wickets that would have swung things our way.”
Moeen has been impressed with Harry Brook (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)Harry Brook, in just his 2nd ODI, showed what an all format star he has become with 80 to steady the ship after both openers had departed. And Jos Buttler was his usual destructive self with 94 not out, but it was the 51 from Moeen, batting at six, which caught the eye and might be the start of the sort of form he will need to keep the likes of Liam Livingstone at bay when they come to pick their World Cup side later in the year.
“Jos said when the guys retired, Morgs and Stokesy, he wanted me to bat up the order,” he added. “I’ve obviously got to score some runs because there’s so many good players around.
“I hit them all right out there, not too bad. It took me a bit of time to get going, but 50 overs is completely different to T20 which I’ve been playing quite a bit. The intensity is a bit different early on.”
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