Ireland tour of England 2020: Moeen Ali named England ODI vice-captain

Moeen Ali named England ODI vice-captain: The reliable all-rounder has been as a deputy to white-ball captain Eoin Morgan.

England all-rounder Moeen Ali will be seen playing the role of a vice-captain in the upcoming three-match ODI series against Ireland at home.

Not part of the Test team for the ongoing series against West Indies, Moeen is part of a 24-member training group which is currently inside a bio-secure bubble at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

While Moeen’s last Test appearance had come during the Ashes series last year, his previous appearance across white-ball formats was during the tour of South Africa earlier this year.

Moeen Ali named England ODI vice-captain

Considering the hectic international schedule for England’s national team, they were bound to field two separate squads across formats. Wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler, who plays the role of captain Eoin Morgan’s deputy otherwise, won’t be available for the ODI series due to the same reason.

Therefore, England felt the need to announce a new vice-captain in Moeen Ali. It is worth mentioning that the first intra-squad match among the ODI players is being played between Team Morgan and Team Moeen at the Ageas Bowl today.

After a second match on Friday, an England Lions squad will take on Ireland on Sunday. It will be after these two matches that the English selectors will name a shortened squad for ODI series.

In 102 ODIs for England, 33-year old Moeen has scored 1,783 runs at a strike rate of 104.05 including three centuries and five half-centuries. Moeen’s 85 ODI wickets have come at an average of 48.60, an economy rate of 5.25 and a strike rate of 55.4.

England’s 24-member training group for Ireland ODIs

Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Henry Brookes, Brydon Carse, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Laurie Evans, Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Sam Hain, Tom Helm, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More