{"id":307762,"date":"2023-06-14T03:59:50","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T03:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=307762"},"modified":"2023-06-14T05:59:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T05:59:01","slug":"one-word-text-before-dangerous-moeen-recall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=307762","title":{"rendered":"One-word text before 'dangerous' Moeen recall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allrounder Moeen Ali<\/a> has revealed the one-word text message he received from Ben Stokes<\/a> that kick-started his return to Test cricket.<\/p>\n

England recalled Moeen<\/a> after an 18-month hiatus from first-class cricket to replace the injured Jack Leach<\/a> for the first two Ashes Tests beginning June 16.<\/p>\n

Addressing the media for the first time since coming out of retirement, Moeen revealed he was first approached by England when captain Ben Stokes flicked him an unexpected text message.<\/p>\n

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"Stokesy messaged me with a question mark, 'Ashes?', and I hadn't heard of Leachy('s back injury) at the time, and I just went 'Lol', thinking he's taking the mickey," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Moeen<\/p>\n

But Stokes was not joking with \ufeffthe spinner now set to slot into England's line-up.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old said he had planned to be on holiday in the Cotswolds for the Ashes opener in Edgbaston, but admitted he would never turn down a call from his close friend Stokes.<\/p>\n

He added that Stokes had promised there would be no such thing as a "bad shot", and that England's game plan of taking wickets quickly with little concern for runs conceded would suit his style of play.<\/p>\n

"I spoke to Stokesy about how they talk to the batters and [he said], 'This is perfect for the way you play'," Moeen said.<\/p>\n

"There's no question marks over any shots that you play, which gives me the licence to play a few more rash shots I guess.<\/p>\n

"But I think even with the ball, just speaking to him, this is more of an aggressive side. I know I go for runs but he knows there're also some wicket-taking deliveries in between.<\/p>\n

"That's all he cares about really.<\/p>\n

\"Moeen<\/p>\n

"All the things I wanted to do in Test cricket [in the past], I'm going to try and do in these games. It could be dangerous, it could be not so dangerous, we'll see."<\/p>\n

Moeen had previously struggled with the ball against Australia, picking up 20 wickets across 11 Ashes Tests at a bowling average of 64.65.<\/p>\n

He will however bolster what is already a strong batting list for England, with Moeen having hit five Test centuries in 64 appearances.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I've never been able to hold an end up," Moeen said.<\/p>\n

Watch \ufeffevery ball of the Ashes series live and exclusive on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"When I have, it's only when I've been taking wickets. That's the only time I've been able to really build any sort of pressure.<\/p>\n

"There might be times where I need to try and build a bit of pressure and just be in the game, play what's in front of me. But I'm sure they (England) know what they're going to get from me.<\/p>\n

"There won't be a lot of maidens."<\/p>\n

Australian great Ian Chappell recently slammed the prospect of Moeen's return<\/a> to the Test side, with former Test spinner Steve O'Keefe also challenging the decision.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffMoeen Ali's last Test against Australia, he took 3-172 and then retired (following a series against India). So since then, he has played no first-class cricket, he's played 95 T20s," O'Keefe told Wide World of Sports' Outside the Rope<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I guess it comes into this mentality that the death of spin bowling must be a concern in England because they're going back to a guy who has retired to play a Test series – who has battled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I think it just goes to the form of (England coach Brendon) McCullum wanting allrounders in his squad. But he obviously sees something that we don't in Moeen, that he thinks he is ready and prepared to play.<\/p>\n

"It's going to be a big ask \ufefffor him, but he does play an aggressive style of cricket, he's won with the Chennai Super Kings playing T20 and he thinks that his form is good enough to play a Test series."<\/p>\n

O'Keefe said Steve Smith would not be losing sleep over Moeen's selection, while Nathan Lyon, who has been a bogeyman to Moeen at the crease, would be pleased to face him.<\/p>\n

"\ufeff[Lyon] had his number in Sydney many a time batting so that takes out the allrounder capabilities."<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allrounder Moeen Ali has revealed the one-word text message he received from Ben Stokes that kick-started his return to Test cricket. England recalled Moeen after […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":307765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307762"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307773,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307762\/revisions\/307773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/307765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}