Moeen Ali made his return to Test cricket, coming out of retirement after Ben Stokes insisted the all-rounder to represent England in the Ashes 2023 with Jack Leach ruled out. Having collected his OBE days ahead of the first Test in Edgbaston, Ali proved to be a handful for Australian batters, particularly Cameron Green who was bamboozled by a turning delivery from Moeen.
Known for his aggressive batting style, Ali managed to score just 18 returns upon his return to red-ball cricket however he made an impact with the ball as well, hunting down Travis Head before producing a moment of magic as he dismissed a well-set Green.
The England all-rounder bowled an ‘absolute beauty’ in the words of Nasser Hussain, and Ricky Ponting called his delivery ‘vicious’ as Ali rattled Green’s stumps with an outrageous turn.
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The incident occurred in the 68th over of the inning, Green was batting at 38 having stitched together a fifty partnership with Usman Khawaja.
On the first ball of the over, Ali delivered a flouted one, outside the off stumping, teasing Green who attempted to play a drive, but as fate would have it, the ball turned viciously after bouncing off the surface and went through the gap between the bat and pad of the Australia all-rounder.
Before Green knew it, his stumps were rattled and both Ponting and Hussain, who were commentating on the match were left impressed.
“LOL”#EnglandCricket | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/hNHY3Owd0s— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 17, 2023
“Beauty! What an absolute beauty drifting away, spinning, Moeen has his second with a Jaffa,” praised Hussain.
“Vicious turn, thumps onto the top of middle and leg, well bowled Moeen Ali,” said Ponting.
Talking about the first Test, earlier on Day 1, England scored 393/8 before Stokes made an audacious call to declare, and invited Australia to bat. They finished with 14/0 at Stumps, although England pulled away with three wickets in the first session on Day 2.
After a mixed second session shared by both teams ended, Australia managed to score 188/4 at Tea before then going on to cross the 220-run mark when Green got dismissed.
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