Moin Ali achieved the highest score, finishing 3rd in the series, surpassing Marnus Labouchagn's seven attempts. 3 this week, it was presented as an act of self-sacrifice by the best member of the team to allow the best batsmen to stay in their preferred positions. Inspired by Lionel Messi, we named him the False Three of England.
There were numerous quotes and statistics that welcomed the promotion. Moin himself didn't seem all that confident about his chances of making an impact on the game. He talked about «even hitting 10 overs», «getting off once in four hits», that it was «realistic», and that 20 runs felt like «miles». This was perfectly reasonable management of expectations; his career average is just 27.8, his Ashes average is just 23, and his average for the last five years is just 16. His last half century of Testing was in January 2019, and the last of his five centuries was in 2016.
But there was another statistic that turned out to be more of an omen: in 99 first-class innings as No. 3, Moin averaged 48.9. It shows that he has a work experience that no other English batsman has, and in his first opportunity since taking the full-time job, it showed. Moin scored the highest, finishing 3rd in the series, ahead of Marnus Labuschagn, who had seven attempts.
🎙️ «He looks good»
50 for Moina Ali 💪 pic.twitter.com/GBEeOt1IID
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 20, 2023
He did it not by risking his hand, as he assumed England manager Brandon McCallum wanted him to do, but by relying on the basics of his game and the basics of test batting. He built an innings.
Moin was in the 14th inning ball when Ben Duckett couldn't leave Mitchell Stark alone. Moin came into the game so early facing a string of great Australian fast balls that seemed like England's worst nightmare and although there were a few weak whistles from the outside early on, Moin dug in. After 27 goals, he only had nine. Moin admitted there was pressure to soak in.
A click from the pads and a crisp cover drive — Moin's trademark — from Josh Hazlewood's loose serves got him moving, before a strong overhander and another amazing cover drive from Pat Cummins.
After a day's play, Zach Crowley revealed that Moen also enjoyed that shot : a believable shot of Cummins, but he says things like that and it's all light-hearted.»
The first of these two frontiers took Moen to 23. With that came a reminder that he was a serious Test cricketer: this made him only the 16th player to hit double in 200 Test wickets and 3,000 runs. Moen has played so many roles over such a long period of time, sometimes from lighthearted to absurd, that it's easy to forget that's exactly what he is: a serious cricket test player.
He laid the foundation for Crowley's and Root's fireworks
A quick look at the list he now joins, the company he now makes, reminds us that he is. It features many of the game's great all-rounders — Jacques Callis, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and others — as well as a number of great bowlers who could bat like Stuart Broad and Shane Warne. Moin reached the milestone in his 67th Test, faster than anyone else on the list except for Botham, Shakib Al Hasan and Chris Cairns. A reminder that Ben Stokes isn't around yet; he is three wickets short, and given the condition of his left knee, they may be the toughest three wickets of his career.
This week, Moin talked about how delighted his father Munir would be if he reached this milestone, and he really seemed relaxed and relieved from it. He attacked both sides of the dinner, knowing that the hardest work had been done. Nathan Lyon was like kryptonite, firing him 10 times, but this time the Aussie, poor Travis Head, is less dangerous, so Moin took him on.
It was a short ball that ended up making for Moin. He was thrown by Cummins from Hazlewood in the middle of the wicket and on the next ball he faced, Usman Khawaja caught the ball brilliantly in a similar position. Another advantage of Moen's promotion was that he kept the short ball away from him until it was very well placed.
Moin left looking dejected, but he exceeded even Munir's expectations. Playing wisely, he set the stage for the fireworks that followed Crowley and Joe Root.
Boycott Briefing, Test Day 4, Game Over Day 2.
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