Manchester: England cricketer Moeen Ali on Thursday entered an exclusive club of men’s Test all-round cricketers, who have the double of 3,000 runs and 200 wickets, on day two of ongoing fourth Ashes 2023 Test at Old Trafford, here.
Coming out to bat at number three, Ali was unbeaten on 31 at lunch. He became the 16th men’s cricketer to achieve the Test all-rounders’ double of 3,000 runs and 200 wickets.
Moeen had 200 wickets and 2,977 runs in Test cricket before the start of the ongoing Ashes Test at Old Trafford. He crossed 3000 Test runs after hitting back-to-back fours off Australia captain Pat Cummins in the 14th over, as England reached 61-1 at lunch.
“I think we forget what a good young batter Moeen was. Anyone watching a young Moeen growing up would say ‘this lad can bat’. ‘That is the reason he has said he wants to bat at No 3’.
“He will end his career thinking he could have got more Test runs for the ability he has got. He wants to go out there and show the world again that he is a proper, proper batter. I think we forget that because he can frustrate,” said Nasser Hussain, former England captain, on Sky Sports, during lunch break.
Before Ali, 15 men’s Test cricketers, including three from England, became members of the exclusive club of 3000 runs and 200 scalps. They are — Shane Warne, Stuart Broad, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Shaun Pollock, Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Daniel Vettori, Chaminda Vaas, Jacques Kallis, Garry Sobers, Shakib Al Hasan, Andrew Flintoff and Chris Cairns.
Ali had retired from Test cricket in 2021, scoring 2,914 runs and taking 195 wickets in 64 matches. But he came out of his Test retirement to play in the ongoing Ashes after left-arm spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the five-match series due to a stress fracture of the lower back.
–IANS