London, Dec 28: England all-rounder Moeen Ali wants the country’s cricket board to pay more attention to red-ball cricket in the aftermath of the Ashes series debacle, and cited the limited-overs revolution which led to the team winning the 2019 World Cup.
On Tuesday, England lost the third Ashes Test and also the series after their innings and 14-run demolition by Australia at the MCG. England are now 0-3 down in the five-Test series.
Moeen, who retired from Test cricket three months back to prolong his white-ball career, said the way the debacle in the 2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand had spurred England’s rise in limited-overs cricket, a similar template could be prepared for red-ball cricket after the Ashes.
England lifted the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, defeating New Zealand at Lord’s on boundary count-back rule after the Super Over failed to produce a result. “It has obviously worked because we won the (50-over) World Cup (in 2019) and we’ve done really well in white-ball cricket,” Moeen told BT Sports on Tuesday after England’s capitulation for 68 runs.
“It has worked. I just feel that now the white-ball cricket is so set and strong – the foundations are there, the players are there, we know what we’re doing, Eoin Morgan leads that amazingly well – I think we need that in red-ball cricket now as well,” added Moeen.
“I don’t think we’ve been good enough. I think it has been coming. I’ve been part of this team. It’s not long ago that I was in that side. You just felt that sometimes we were papering over the cracks at home, where it does do a bit and we’re kind of used to those conditions.” (IANS)
