Ever since the 1960 Test series, a state of virtual deadlock had existed between England and South Africa, with never more than one match between them. Until, that is, Moeen Ali took South Africa’s last two wickets with consecutive balls to accomplish a unique all-round feat and give England an overwhelming 3-1 victory.
Moeen became the first all-rounder from any country to score 250 runs — after expanding his overnight counter-attack of 67 into 75 off only 66 balls — and take 25 wickets in a four-Test series. And to underline Moeen’s vast improvement this year, he became the first England spinner since 1958 to take so many wickets at a series average below 16 — and this in a damp summer when the new-ball bowler has been king.
Moeen has always given the ball air when he has batted, but now he gives it air when he bowls as well. Whether the change should be credited most to his own learning, or to Joe Root, his captain, or Saqlain Mushtaq, his coach, it has transformed him from a plain off-break bowler into a guileful spinner who can now wrap up tail-enders in a hurry.
It has made all the difference between his finishing with two for 70 or five for 80. This summer has seen some creative groundsmanship, which has ensured that three of the four Tests ended with at least one day to spare, and only three individual centuries were scored, but still, Moeen can now be ranked alongside any of England’s post-war off-spinners, bar Jim Laker and Graeme Swann, though don’t expect him to run through Australia this winter, because English off-spinners have never done that in Australia since pitches were covered.
More topically, Moeen can be ranked alongside Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow as one of three world-class all-rounders that England possess. Tony Greig, Alan Knott and Ray Illingworth were also pretty hot at numbers six, seven and eight — but none could take the game away in an hour as Stokes did at the Oval, and Bairstow in the first innings here, and Moeen in the second, with stroke play, which rouses the crowd and routs the opposition.
If there are two flies in England’s ointment after Joe Root’s first series victory, in which he led wonderfully well for a beginner, one is that England have yet to break the mould whereby they bat feebly — buckling under scoreboard pressure — after bowling first. All four Tests were won by large margins by the side that won the toss and batted first.
The second is that positions two, three and five have yet to be filled satisfactorily. But at least Haseeb Hameed made a score at last in Lancashire’s second innings, while Keaton Jennings and Tom Westley have the temperament for Test cricket, even if both need technical modifications. Almost as heartening for England as the form of their three all-rounders, was the new-ball bowling of James Anderson and Stuart Broad before lunch, when South Africa were set 380.
They were sharks scenting blood, tearing into the tourists’ out-of-touch top order. If they had bowled like that on the first morning at Trent Bridge, the result of this series could well have been 4-0. If they bowl like that on the first morning at Brisbane, the result of the Ashes series will surely not be 0-5 like last time.
When Anderson flew to India last winter to regain his Test place, he bowled all right in his first Test back to take four wickets but nothing followed. In two more Tests he lost his nip off the pitch. The end seemed nigh. And the last thing that should ever happen to Anderson, England’s leading wicket-taker by more than 100 wickets, is for him to go out broken and beaten.
Yet this summer, after effectively a six-month respite, the nip is back, as Hashim Amla can confirm after Anderson ground his fingers against the bat handle. Anderson has been helped by the four pitches, but the mastery of outswing and seam movement and accuracy are all his own. What will also please him, almost as much as his proximity to 500 wickets — he has 487 — is that his bowling average has gone below 28 for the first time since he was starting out in 2003.
A fourth-wicket stand of 123 between Amla — who flowed into his strokes for the first time this summer — and Faf du Plessis held England up for much of the afternoon. But the beauty of an effective spinner is that he can dismiss a major batsman when the ball is old, the sun is out and the fielders are tiring.
Moeen pinned Amla when he walked across his stumps to flick to leg and quickly made it three wickets in 11 balls. Another cause of the spectacular improvement in Moeen’s figures, in the West Indies series he could join Stokes — who in this game raised his batting average higher than his bowling — is the support he is now getting from his close catchers.
Bairstow had missed a stumping in South Africa’s first innings but his mistakes are rare, while Stokes at slip has been almost infallible; and Alastair Cook’s catch at second slip was top-drawer. It was no less than Moeen, the man of the match and series, deserved.
