Ashes: Moeen Ali rues England’s repetitive batting failure, feels home team in ‘winning position’ after day 2

It’s been only two days, and we are nearing the result of the ongoing third Ashes Test in Leeds. With England bouncing back in the second innings after picking Australia’s top four batters, including Steve Smith – who is playing his 100th Test, batting all-rounder Moeen Ali feels the hosts are in a better position to win the match. 

Australia, in their second innings, are reeling at 116 for four, with 142 runs.

Claiming his 200th Test wicket on Friday, removing star batters in Marnus Labuschagne and veteran Smith, Ali opines England had a good day despite batters suffering early jolts in the first session. Ali, who also contributed a little with the bat, stitching a 44-run stand with captain Ben Stokes, added the hosts have a good chance of turning the tides and making a comeback in the series.

“We have a good chance. It’s pleasing the day actually ended up quite nicely, and we’re still in a winnable position,” Moeen told BBC’s Test Match Special after the second day’s play.

With Australia in command of the situation with centurion Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head at the crease, Moeen thinks irrespective of what total England have in front of them, they will be up for it. Giving a guess on what score could be within their reach, Moeen said,

“Whatever they get we are going to have to try and chase. It’s still a decent wicket. “We’ve got some brilliant players, the outfield is rapid, and it takes a couple of guys to get in. I don’t know about the score – from this position, we’d ideally like to chase 260,” Moeen, who picked two wickets in the second innings so far, said.

We can’t rely on Stokes every time

Ben Stokes – for the nth time against Australia and the second time in this Ashes series, came to England’s rescue after Aussie bowlers made light work of them in the first innings, reducing them to 131 for six at one stage.

Batting with the tail, Stokes somehow revived his team’s chances of staying in the game with his counter-attacking 80 off 106 balls, including six fours and five sixes. A quickfire cameo from Mark Wood – hero with the ball in hand in the first innings, who scored 24 off eight balls, hitting three sixes, helped the cause.

Moeen, however, rued this repetitive batting failure from England, saying every time they cannot rely on Stokes to bail them out of trouble, and urged other batters to come to the party before it gets too late.

“He’s a brilliant player, but I think it’s the situations more than anything,” Moeen said of Stokes. “He loves those and thrives off them, but we can’t rely on him all the time. We do have other very good players who need to come to the party as well. I know they’re really hungry to score runs and hopefully chase down whatever Australia get.”