Moeen Ali focuses on what England can control as they look to free themselves from the shackles ahead of their remaining games. It kicks off with England vs New Zealand on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7.30am.
Moeen Ali believes he and his fellow blockbusters can now throw off the shackles against New Zealand on Tuesday and Sri Lanka on Saturday.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes he and his fellow bigs can now throw off the shackles as they look to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
England’s batting, so often their greatest strength in cue-ball cricket, has so far faltered, with their quest to unify cricket’s two major limited-overs trophies faltering.
After a lackluster display of the highest order against Ireland, Moeen’s boundary flurry brought England to the brink of overcoming the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern pair, but rain thwarted his efforts.
A loss to the boys in green and a loss to Australia, both at the MCG, have left England probably needing to win their last two Super 12 matches to have the best chance of reaching the semi-finals.
However, England could beat New Zealand on Tuesday and Sri Lanka on Saturday and still not go through, as the net run rate will come into play to determine the top two of the group if the teams cannot be split on points.
“We hit all the way, so we might as well entertain everybody, entertain ourselves and enjoy that 30-ball 70 or 80, whatever, because that’s what really takes the game away,” Moeen said.
“We just have to be brave. It doesn’t mean going out there and trying hard, but playing the way we can and the reason we were picked. Putting pressure on bowling and taking those risks sometimes.”
While there was no lack of intent from their batsmen against Ireland, England collected 36 points from legal 87 deliveries in a five-run DLS loss.
“We could have put our foot down a little bit earlier in that situation and been a little more proactive as a team,” Moeen added. “If we had gotten six more singles over the innings, we would have won.”
Moeen is focused on what England can control, starting on Tuesday at the Gabba against the Black Caps, who eliminated them at the semi-final stage of this tournament 11 months ago.
“I wouldn’t say it’s unfinished business, but we got eliminated last year and that hurt a lot,” Moeen said.
“I don’t remember playing in New Zealand where we played average and won. You always have to play your best cricket.”
“We have to win both games, but we could still be out. Our job is to win those two games and, if we can, win them comfortably.”
On his previous tour of Down Under, Moeen was England’s front-row spinner, but he took just five wickets in as many Tests at an astonishing average of 115, having been hampered by a nagging finger injury.
Moeen also failed to make it to fifty as England slipped to another heavy defeat and did not fare much better in the ODI series that followed, but there have been encouraging signs on his latest journey.
“I think about that Ashes series and I think (about) all the grounds we go to now, obviously the test grounds we play at,” Moeen said, before England travel to Brisbane on Saturday.
“And I’m like, ‘This is where this happened and this is where this happened, and I really shouldn’t have played that game because I had this problem.’
“It’s almost parked in the back of my mind, it was a tour disaster and I don’t even want to think about it.
“Not just personally, but as a team we were terrible and the last two times we’ve been here (England also lost the 2021-22 Ashes but Moeen had pulled out of the Tests by then). I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Watch England vs New Zealand on Tuesday live on Sky Sports Cricket. Preparation begins at 7:30am before kick-off at 8am in Brisbane.
