Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali is an English international cricketer

Moeen Ali (born 18 June 1987) is an English international cricketer. A batting all-rounder, he is a left-handed batsman and right-arm off-spinner, who played county cricket for Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire after the 2006 season. As of 2017, Ali represents England in all formats of the game. He won Warwickshire's NBC Denis Compton Award in both 2004 and 2005 and Worcestershire's NBC Denis Compton Award in 2009. His off-spin is marked by a strongly spun off-break and a well-concealed arm ball. He was named one of the Cricketers of the Year in the 2015 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Ali played in the first ODI against the West Indies, and made an unbeaten 31 in the first game as England won by 45 runs. In the second game he took figures of 1–44 as West Indies were restricted to 225 as England secured a four wicket victory.

In the first Test against South Africa, Ali became the fifth-fastest player, in terms of matches played, to score 2,000 runs and take 100 wickets in Tests (38). He also took his first ten-wicket haul in Tests and was the first England player since Ian Botham to score a Test half-century and take ten wickets in the same match.

In the third Test, Ali took a hat-trick to bowl South Africa out and end the match; it was the first hat-trick for an England spinner since 1938–39 and the first ever in a Test match at The Oval. It was only the third time in Test history that victory has been sealed by a hat-trick (the first time for 115 years), and the first hat-trick where three left-handed batsmen were dismissed. He made 75 not out in second innings of 4th Test to help England to a strong position and finished the game with a 5-wicket haul for the second consecutive match. Ali reached 25 wickets and 250 runs in the series, the only player to ever achieve the feat in a 4 Test series.

Ali had a quieter Test series against West Indies, scoring 109 runs and taking 5 wickets in the three match series. In the third match of the ODI series that followed, he scored the second fastest century for England, taking just 53 balls to reach the milestone. In the fourth ODI he scored an unbeaten 48 off 25 deliveries to seal a series win for England.

Ali played in all 5 Tests of the 2017-18 Ashes with little success.He played with an injured spinning finger and only took 5 wickets, at an average of 115. With the bat, he scored 179 runs at an average of 20 and was dismissed 7 times in 9 innings by off-spinner Nathan Lyon.