Moeen Ali hailed one other “brilliant” efficiency by Ben Stokes as he insisted England may nonetheless pull off a exceptional Ashes triumph as long as its inspirational captain was concerned within the recreation.
England, 2-0 down with three to play, was in dire straits at 87-5 in reply to Australia’s first-innings 263 on the second day of the third Test at Headingley on Friday.
But Stokes, recent from his gorgeous 155 in defeat by Australia at Lord’s final week, struck 80 off 108 balls, together with six fours and 5 sixes, to steer England to 237 all out — simply 26 runs behind.
Off-spinner Moeen then took two wickets for 2 runs in simply 9 balls as he eliminated Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith earlier than Australia reached stumps on 116-4 in its second innings, a lead of 142 runs.
Australia, bidding for a primary away Ashes sequence win in 22 years, nonetheless have the higher hand. England followers, nonetheless, can not less than dream of witnessing a repeat of Stokes’s Headingley heroics of 2019, when his exceptional 135 not out guided England to a unprecedented one-wicket win over Australia in a celebrated Ashes Test.
‘Loves these situations’
But whereas Moeen warned towards an over-reliance on the all-rounder, battling a longstanding left knee downside amongst a number of health points, he mentioned: “Ben’s a brilliant player. He’s the one player in the world who everyone will be thinking about in that situation, especially against Australia because he has done it a couple of times now.
“As long as he’s there you’ve always got a great chance of winning. It’s the situations more than anything, he loves those situations, he thrives off them.”
Moeen added: “We can’t rely on him all the time. We do have dangerous players who we just need to come to the party as well as Ben… His body has obviously been through a lot but there’s one thing with Ben, he can’t do anything without it being 100 percent.”
Moeen will not be identified for containment however by snaring Labuschagne and Smith he reached 200 Test wickets — solely Derek Underwood (297) and Graeme Swann (255) have taken extra amongst England spinners — in a cheap return of 2-34 in 17 overs.
His haul got here after a finger harm dominated Moeen out of motion at Lord’s following his return from Test retirement within the sequence opener at Edgbaston.
“My finger is fine, it’s sore but I can bowl,” mentioned Moeen. “I’m pleased with the 200 wickets.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins took a powerful 6-91 however the quick bowler couldn’t dismiss Stokes – dropped twice on 45 – together with his rival skipper falling to the off-spin of Todd Murphy.
“When Stokes is there you are never in total control,” admitted Australia head coach Andrew McDonald, who added: “Full credit to Ben, his way of batting with the tail is probably second to none.
“We have to work out a way to navigate through Ben Stokes in the second innings.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com