Moeen Ali will double down on batting practice before next week’s fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford with England giving consideration to making his switch to No 3 permanent and keeping Harry Brook’s runs flowing lower down.
England pegging Australia’s series lead back to 2-1 at Headingley on Sunday involved reshuffling their batting order for the run chase, with Moeen, an all-rounder, moved from No 7 to first drop. This allowed Brook – initially selected there after Ollie Pope’s summer-ending shoulder injury at Lord’s – to return to his more familiar role at No 5.
While Moeen recorded a single-figure score, Brook’s 93-ball 75 was central to a target of 251 being reached. Ben Stokes said it was specific to the match situation but he and the head coach, Brendon McCullum, are weighing up a repeat, with Moeen understood to have lined up additional net sessions during the break in anticipation.
The position appears high for Moeen despite spending much of his county career there, but Brook would likely welcome it. The Yorkshireman ranked his calm and precise innings - one that made him the quickest player to 1,000 Test runs by way of balls faced (1,058) - as his best despite four centuries on the road last winter.
“That’s probably No 1, especially in front of my home crowd,” he said. “Ashes cricket is tough but I went out there with a different mindset. The last couple of innings I’ve got out before that, I felt I was a bit tentative, trying to survive. But I was trying to be as positive as possible and put the pressure on the bowler.”
With a squad due to be named this week, another talking point is the form of Jonny Bairstow after a torrid time at his home ground. Three catches failed to nestle in the wicketkeeper’s gloves, another was troublingly left for Brook but was held, while Bairstow’s batting has not fired since making 78 on the opening day of the series.
But unless Stokes, McCullum and the team director, Rob Key, believe Bairstow needs whipping out of the firing line for his own good – a tacit acceptance that the dual role as wicketkeeper has overburdened him so soon after recovering from last year’s broken leg – the external calls for Ben Foakes to return are likely to go unheeded.
Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are now inked into the side after stellar returns in Leeds, while Stuart Broad is the leading bowler in the series with 16 wickets. It means the main decision centres on the final bowling berth, with Ollie Robinson a doubt after back spasms once again left him a passenger for the bulk of a Test match.
While that absence meant England effectively won with a four-man attack, there are no guarantees Old Trafford’s surface will be as spicy. Dan Lawrence, the spare batter, could come in at No 3, but it would mean leaving out a bowler and Stokes, unable to bowl much due to injuries, appears sold on the variety of having five. This leaves a choice between recalling Jimmy Anderson at his home ground or injecting further pace into the attack alongside Wood in the form of Josh Tongue.
