I'm afraid that you are in the minority in your constant denigration of Moeen Ali as he is a fine player and hopefully will be in the England side for a few years yet.

You are basing your opinion on his poor performance down under last year when he was carrying an injury but don't forget that the best spinner that England have had in recent years performed so poorly on the previous tour that he retired from cricket midway through the Ashes series and returned home.

If Moeen didn't perform that well with the ball on the last tour to India then check out Shane Warne's stats in India and you will find them to be equally poor yet no-one ever said that Warne was passed it

I'm not sure what an appeal to popularity has to do with it, but obviously I think you're wrong about Ali's suitability for tests.

Warne didn't do well in India but pretty much everywhere else. He wasn't just a 'home' bowler.

It's not just the last Ashes away tour where Ali failed to perform it was also the last tours of Bangladesh and India. If it was a one off country that had his number like India in India with Warne we might be able to ignore it as a blip...but this has been all the tours where he was unable to shine despite finding conditions suitable to spin bowling. During the last Ashes debacle he was comprehensively outbowled by his Australian counterpart Nathan Lyon.

Moeen's batting has also dipped outside home and this will be a major concern for England whose away record has been shambolic over the last few years.

This is a player only suited to English conditions who isn't a reliable batsman and while he bowls well as the second spinner in England....in reality he's far better as a one day or twenty twenty player.

Edited by Stirlingsays (10 Sep 2018 1.34pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Looking to push on for some quick runs before a declaration so no culpability can be aimed at the batsmen for their unselfish approach.

Buttler and Root both got out doing stupid things. At least Root had a good innings first.

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Really? One or two partnerships in each innings.

We'd have lost at least two of those wins if our bowling had been mediocre.

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Yeah, up until this teast it's been 1-4 that have been out cheaply. 4-8 have been in the runs.

Buttler and Curran had the most in the series prior to today's glorious entertainment and the two tons.

Optimistic as ever