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No Test team needs two all-rounders

Moeen Ali bowling for England. (AFP PHOTO/JEWEL SAMAD)
Expert
7th May, 2015
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2068 Reads

Every modern Test team benefits from an all-rounder, but England have gone overboard in fielding two. Ahead of the upcoming Ashes, there is room only for one of Ben Stokes or Moeen Ali.

The same rule applies to Australia – there is no need or justification for playing Shane Watson and Mitch Marsh in the same side in next month’s Tests in the West Indies.

England have just completed a three-Test series against the West Indies, which was drawn 1-1, during which they continued their experiment of playing both Stokes and Ali.

The English selectors previously tried combining this pair during the first two Tests of last year’s home series against India. While that strategy was in play, India arguably had the better of the first Test and then beat England by 95 runs in the second match.

Stokes’ bowling was handy at times, but he did not register a single run in those Tests, returning three consecutive ducks. The New Zealand-born all-rounder was promptly dropped and England won the next three Tests. His replacement was another all-rounder in Chris Woakes.

While Woakes’ inclusion marked the start of England’s major turnaround it was merely coincidental. Woakes had next-to-no influence on the final three Tests, scoring just 33 runs and taking five wickets at an average of 43. It was veteran quicks James Anderson and Stuart Broad who engineered this comeback, in concert with Moeen.

Moeen came into the side as a batting all-rounder but his solid offspin soon convinced England they had no need for a frontline tweaker. His bowling returns have been very good, with 28 wickets at 29 from his nine Tests.

However, those figures are skewed because India gifted Moeen so many wickets last English summer by often refusing to show him any respect. The famously spin-proficient Indian batsmen regularly tried to flay him and it backfired, resulting in numerous soft dismissals.

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Moeen clearly is better than just a part-time spinner, which is how the Indians ill-advisedly seemed to view him. But he’s not quite a frontline tweaker yet either. It shouldn’t be forgotten that he came into the England side having averaged barely more than one wicket per match across his first class career. He was a batsman who was handy with the ball.

The West Indian batsmen did not attack Moeen recklessly like the Indians did and he was proved to be far less effective when combated with intelligence rather than brawn.

Now there is conjecture about whether Moeen should remain in the side for England’s upcoming Tests against New Zealand. Sir Ian Botham has questioned whether Moeen is up to the challenge of being their sole spinner.

“He got 19 wickets against India but probably because no one, including himself, expected him to,” Botham told Sky Sports. “He was expected to perform here and didn’t and now he is under the microscope”.

Moeen’s batting won’t save him. His past seven Tests have seen him return just 190 runs at 21. England look poorly balanced with both he and Stokes in their side.

Stokes has been taking the spot of a frontline bowler despite the fact he looks more likely, in the short term at least, to cement himself in the top six than as one of England’s four best bowlers.

On Caribbean pitches which offered little assistance to the fast men, Stokes was both innocuous and expensive, with three wickets at 85 from three Tests, going at a lofty four runs per over. He is far better suited to being the fifth bowler. As a frontliner Stokes has no obvious role – he is not incisive enough to be a strike bowler and is far too loose to help his captain build pressure.

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The strategy of Stokes playing as a frontline quick and Moeen as the sole spinner has heaped the pressure on Broad and Anderson. The former has looked well below his peak and, although Anderson lifted to the challenge against the Windies, England were much too reliant on him to the shape the course of each Test.

There simply must be better pace options in the county circuit than Stokes. England may also be better served by entrusting the spin duties to someone who has made a career out of that art, rather than Moeen with his handy but raw offerings.

Send Stokes to six in place of Moeen, and pick a specialist spinner and frontline quick to partner Anderson and Broad – that would be my advice to England.

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