Moeen Ali slams international cricket schedule as world champions jet off for another series
Moeen Ali attacked administrators for the ”horrible” schedule after England’s T20 World Cup winners were immediately forced to shift their focus to one-day internationals, travelling to Adelaide ahead of the opening ODI against Australia.
England’s first ODI in the series is on Thursday, beginning three and a half days after their victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup final. Moeen and other England players involved in both the T20 and ODI squads travelled to Adelaide the day after the final.
“It’s been happening for a while,” said Moeen, England’s limited-overs vice-captain. “Those kind of things are a shame.
“Having a game in three days’ time, it’s horrible. But it’s better than two days’ time – if today had got rained off it would have been probably two days. As players we’re kind of getting used to it now. But to give a hundred percent all the time is difficult when you’re playing every two, three days.
“As a group we want to enjoy and celebrate and have that because you put so much into it as well. It’s not just while the tournament is going on, there’s the pre-tournament, the build-up and all that.”
Moeen said that players would still be processing the T20 World Cup victory during the ODI series. “It’s one of those things where we’ve got to obviously soak it all in and all that stuff, but yeah, just whatever.”
When England won the ODI World Cup in 2019, they swiftly had to turn their attention to Test cricket. “When we won in 2019, we had an Ashes game two weeks later and we had a Test match against Ireland 10 days after winning,” Moeen said.
Moeen admitted that players had little enthusiasm for the ODI series. “Well, we have to do it and while we’re here we might as well do it – it would be better than going back and then having to come back out another time,” he said. “Not think about that a minute but we’re up for the challenge when it comes.”
Moeen said that he had never been more tense during any game – not even the 2019 ODI World Cup final, when England beat New Zealand after a Super Over.
“I feel being 35 and at the back end of my career. I felt like this was the most nervous I’ve ever been for a game. And everybody was,” he said. “It felt like the biggest game I’ve ever played in because obviously I was so desperate to win it.
Moeen Ali and his English team mates celebrate with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Trophy after winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final match between Pakistan and England – Moeen Ali slams international cricket schedule as world champions jet off for another series – Quinn Rooney/Getty Images© Provided by The Telegraph
“I feel like as a team we deserved it, but for me personally I’ve been a lot more involved I guess with Jos and being vice captain.
“Having felt like I’ve contributed in games and just generally off the field, it takes a lot out of me to rally the younger players and guys who were probably struggling a little bit early on to say ‘come on you are doing well.’”
Moeen hailed Adil Rashid, who overcame a difficult run of form to excel in England’s last three games, including taking 2-22 in the final.
Related video: England cricket team celebrate as they beat Pakistan to claim T20 World Cup
“He wasn’t struggling, but I feel like there was a lot missing and all of a sudden it worked. We spoke and I said how good he was.
“For me. I’ve still been saying he’s the best leg spinner in the world. When he’s bowling like that there’s no one that compares to him, his variety and all that.”
Moeen hailed England’s side for becoming the first men’s team to hold the ODI and T20 World Cups simultaneously. “To win the World Cup after 2016, missing out in the final, then the semi-final where we probably felt we should have won, and then coming out here was an amazing performance.”
Ben Stokes made his maiden T20 international half-century to lead England to victory in the final, and Moeen said that there were never any concerns over whether he would be able to thrive in the T20 World Cup.
“There were a lot of question marks over Ben in the side at the start and things but these are the games that you need him. It’s not just because it’s a big occasion but actually those tight games where the wicket is doing a bit and there’s a good bowling attack on or the conditions are a bit difficult, he’s the guy who steps up really.
Although I feel like we could have won that a bit more comfortably, but they bowled well, and like I said, it soaked in. Yeah. He’s just a special player and that’s why he’s in the side.
“Everything’s attracted to him, the good and the bad a lot of time, but obviously at the moment it’s all good and he’s a, look, in any team you want to someone like Stokesy and even if people talk about his strike rate, his average and scores, but you’ve got to have him in your team.”
Comment: ‘England’s relentless schedule continues’
By Will Macpherson
It is not hard to see why an elite cricketer like Ben Stokes, in his prime at 31, would want to give up a format – ODIs in his case – to protect his mind and body.
The day after England pulled off an historic T20 triumph, most of the squad were heading from Melbourne to Adelaide to prepare for the start of a new series, three contextless ODIs against Australia, on Thursday (exactly a week after they won a World Cup semi-final on the same ground).
Stokes is not going with them. He is off to the UAE, with a number of other players, for a short period of rest and relaxation – or whatever that involves for Stokes – before going in to camp on Saturday ahead of the Test series against Pakistan in December. The T20 squad had one night to enjoy the series together, before the cricket world moved on. Moeen Ali described that as “a shame”, and he is quite right.
This is not especially new. It was the same for Australia when they won the tournament in the UAE last year: straight back home, and into quarantine to prepare for the Ashes. Pat Cummins neatly captured it then: “You see people win premierships in AFL or NRL, and they go on a two-week bender. Whereas in cricket you come to the end of a Test series and everyone’s ready to go home and sleep for a few days”.
At least, though, there is no doubt that the Ashes actually matters to players. These ODIs? Not so much. They are not part of the World Cup Super League, which serves qualification for the tournament in India next year, so they are friendlies, essentially.
Crowds are expected to be poor. Selling tickets for games not involving India or Pakistan was a struggle enough for the World Cup organisers, so Cricket Australia stand little chance of getting Adelaide Oval, the SCG and the MCG (on a Tuesday!) even half full for ODIs, now a less popular format than T20. All three grounds are vast.
The series may be fun viewing between two decent sides but it is hard to know who actually wants it to happen – perhaps the TV execs (let’s wait on the ratings there), or Jason Roy and the other players who have flown out to complete the England squad?
The madness continues for England later this winter. In January, the new SA20 competition stops for nine days to squeeze in an ODI series that no one really wants (and England should have played in 2020). In February, the final day of the second Test in New Zealand is expected to finish the day before the first ODI in Bangladesh.
Watching everything is barely possible, let alone playing in everything, and almost everyone is poor for it.
