Moeen cameo fun for fans but troubling for England

Melbourne: Moeen Ali boasts five Test centuries, comes in at first drop for Worcestershire and for all the virtues of his bowling up to — but not including — this Ashes series, such as his star turn in the English summer, has always considered himself to be a batsman first.

When in full flow there is neither a teammate nor rival in this ongoing campaign who can claim to be his superior aesthetically, but the buttery southpaw style that has caressed the ball to the rope, or sent it soaring over it like a glittering firework, has still been built on serenity at the crease.

And yet on a soupy third afternoon at the MCG, Moeen emerged from the subterranean dressing room, joined a firmly entrenched Alastair Cook with a 48-run deficit still on the board and then spent the next 15 minutes batting like the outnumbered Tony Montana at the end of Scarface.

It was a crazed 14-ball cameo that for all its fun-packed action en route to 20 runs for the greater cause was also slightly disturbing from a batsman of 48 Tests and who a year ago in Chennai spent six hours compiling 146 from 262 balls against the world’s best spinners — his second hundred of the India series — when handed the responsibility of the No 4 position.

Australia have dismantled Moeen the bowler to the point where a remodelled action is now slapping the ball down in hope rather than expectation, and excuses over side and finger injuries have expired. But it appears the batsman is also suffering a similar malfunction, with the defence that has underpinned past glories untrusted at present if this latest offering is anything to go by.

Nathan Lyon has been the executioner in chief in Australia, such that when Moeen leant back and slapped the Kookaburra straight to a flying Shaun Marsh at short extra cover it was the sixth time out of his seven dismissals so far this series that the No 7’s supposedly opposite number with the ball has had his number.

The signs were there early too, with the first delivery he faced from the off-spinner charged for a less than convincing straight six that Pat Cummins — stationed at long-on no less — early — held before tipping it over the boundary. That the second was then creamed through the covers was classic Moeen in one sense, but equally instructive as to a bust mindset.

The quicks are not exactly being handled well either. In Perth a tame prod ended a sorry match, while the second ball he received here from Josh Hazlewood upon arriving at the crease — a well-directed bumper — pinged off his helmet for four awkward leg-byes. Cummins, who then replaced Hazlewood at the southern end, was also aerially pulled behind square for four with little control.

All of which begs the question as to what happens come Sydney, unless some miraculous rebirth occurs later in this fourth Test. England picked a squad with no alternative to a misfiring Moeen. They were happily to consider him as a specialist batsman in Adelaide when injured — he went on to bowl — but two unconverted scores of 38 and 40 in Brisbane now feel a long time ago.

Mason Crane, the uncapped leg-spinner, as a straight swap in the XI would demand Chris Woakes jump one place higher. Though Woakes offered more measured support to Cook, his 26 was not totally assured either. Drop a seamer for Crane and an almighty amount of pressure would then fall on to the 20-year-old’s shoulders, albeit at the ground where he claimed five wickets for New South Wales in a one-match spell last winter.

There is too much credit in the bank for any end of series hook from the stage to be terminal. Since his debut in 2014, Moeen has had a calming influence off the field, the ultimate team man when operating in every spot from one to nine in the order and given his utmost to plug the spin-bowling gap in the side after Graeme Swann’s retirement and years of English negligence here.

But right now there is an all-rounder delivering neither facet for the team and though England appear to be out of the woods in terms of a third whitewash in four Ashes tours, the situation is starting to become as troubling as this innings.