His England status could be uncertain after the fourth Test in Mumbai but the all-rounder’s charity work helps him keep sporting issues in perspective
Moeen Ali could, in theory, go into the fourth Test starting today feeling the heat given the manner of his two dismissals during the eight-wicket defeat in Mohali.
There is also the fact that Adil Rashid, his fellow spin partner, is enjoying a breakthrough series with the ball that, come the English summer, could mean Moeen’s place in the side comes under consideration.
Moeen, though, is not like most other sportsmen. Cricket, he insists, is “only a game” and pressure is “seeing people who can’t afford food or are struggling to live”.
Heavy stuff, certainly, but words that very much match the 29?year?old all-rounder’s grounded approach to a Test career that, like his place in the batting order, remains one of ups and downs rather than smooth consistency.
Look back to the drawn first Test in Rajkot and Moeen was riding high.
Having been promoted to No. 5 at the start of the Bangladesh tour — a position he had long craved following two years spent mostly as a tailender — he delivered a wonderfully composed 117 to make his fourth career hundred, helping England post 537 in their first innings and hinting that a permanent home in a position of responsibility may finally be his.
Since then, however, the numbers have dwindled to scores of one, two, 16 and five, the last two innings of which ended in pretty grim fashion.
Having been moved to No. 4 in the order for the third Test, he hooked seamer Mohamed Shami meekly to long leg amid England’s first?morning implosion while, the second time around when shunted one further up the order due to Haseeb Hameed’s injury, he chipped Ravi Ashwin to mid-on with an uncommitted lofted drive.
With an abundance of all-rounders vying for slots at six, seven and eight, and Rashid boasting 18 wickets to his seven in the three Tests so far this series, finishing the tour on a high with the bat will do much for Moeen’s chances of being retained as a middle?order batsmen come next summer.
Not that the player himself, who averages 33 after 35 Tests, is feeling too flustered by the challenge.
“I feel all right,” Moeen said at the team nets yesterday, after the resumption of England’s tour following a mid-series break.
“I know they were crap ways to get out but it was just the execution in both innings. I don’t feel too down about it. I do not get down about that kind of stuff.”
Could Moeen, having now batted everywhere from opener to No. 9 in the order without so much as a grumble in the direction of the England management, be a victim of simply being too nice?
“Probably, yes. I have been told sometimes it is not a good thing. But I just get on with it. I have always been like that, even as a youngster.
“Only once my dad pulled me out of a club game when I was told I was batting No. 7. I was 13, playing for Moseley Ashfield in Birmingham, and he said, ‘You’re not batting at seven.’
“I don’t mind where I bat but sometime in the future I would like to have a position I can nail down. The hardest thing is trying to nail down a position when you move around a little bit.”
Such an outlook, along with his glorious flowing cover-drives, is why there is such a will for the left-hander to succeed at Test level. It is informed by a more worldly perspective too, both through his faith as a practising Muslim and as a keen social activist.
Yesterday it was the latter that meant Moeen was acting in his role as an ambassador for the British Asian Trust, taking time out of his day after England netted in the morning to meet children from the Mann Desh project that offers sporting opportunities to deprived rural areas in India.
“I try to do as much as I can. It just puts thing into perspective, such as the pressure of the game,” he said.
“It is just a game of cricket; you just get on with it. You give it your best.
“That is all you can do so there is no point not sleeping at night over it. Pressure to me is seeing people who can’t afford food or are struggling to live. There is more to life than a bat and a ball.”
