Daily Times

LONDON: Eighteen months since playing his last Test, Moeen Ali feels he has so much more to achieve, including passing the 200-wicket milestone. Back in Chennai, where he scored the last of his five Test centuries with 146 in England’s innings defeat as India won their series 4-0 in 2016, Moeen said that a sense of unfinished business with the red ball was now a driving force. “That is my biggest motivation really,” said Moeen, who has 181 Test wickets. “I still feel I’ve got wickets and runs in me and match-winning performances within me. I have little targets I want to achieve first. I am not too far away from getting 200 wickets. I know people say they don’t look at these things but it would be something I would look at. Then I would set another target after that.”

So much has happened since Moeen was dropped after one Test in the 2019 Ashes. Some of it he would have imagined when it sparked his decision to take an extended break from the long-form game, some of it he never would have seen coming, like becoming infected with Covid-19 and spending 13 days in isolation in Sri Lanka, watching England win both Tests from the sidelines. But perhaps what he did envisage, if opting out was to have the desired effect, was returning with no regrets and a renewed appetite for Test cricket.

“At the time I felt I needed it,” Moeen said via Zoom. “I wanted to see if I missed it and if I yearned to play it again. At the time I was playing so much cricket –– and I’d been dropped –– I thought it was a chance to take a step back. And I enjoyed it, played a few leagues around the world – but ultimately it was Test cricket that I missed and I felt like I could still do quite well in. “The one thing I did learn is that when you’re playing Test cricket, you’re on top of your game in terms of your batting and bowling, your technique. I don’t think it’s great when you’re just playing white-ball, red-ball is very important for staying on top of your game.”

Moeen emerged from isolation midway through England’s first Test in Sri Lanka and, after an initial period of easing back into physical activity under close monitoring, he has returned to full training. According to Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, he is under consideration to earn a recall for the first Test against India, starting on Friday.