England all-rounder Moeen Ali was nowhere to be seen on the field during the first innings of the ongoing fifth Ashes 2023 Test match against Australia at The Oval. While Ali didn’t take the field even once on the first two days, he was briefly joined by pacers James Anderson and Mark Wood in the dressing room as the home team was fielding with three substitute fielders at one time on Day 2.
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That said, the 36-year old player did bat in the first two sessions of the match. One of the five English batters who reached individual starts but couldn’t convert them on Day 1, Ali batting sensibly before the lunch break had blown former England batter Mark Butcher’s mind.
Is Moeen Ali Injured?
For those who don’t know, Ali had suffered a right groin injury while batting in the afternoon session yesterday. In spite of receiving immediate medical attention, Ali’s condition didn’t improve. Having said that, what had improved in that session was his strike rate as he managed to hit a few boundaries before losing his wicket in his attempt to hit another one.
It was on Thursday itself that the official Twitter handle of England Cricket had provide an injury update with respect to Ali stating how he wouldn’t be able to field on the day. Continued to be assessed by the English medical team, he wasn’t sent on to the field even when the team bowled a large majority of their overs at a poor over rate due to the presence of four specialist pacers.
Will Moeen Ali Bat In The 2nd Innings At The Oval?
Yes, but with certain restrictions. It is worth of a mention that Ali will have to serve a 120-minute cooling period before batting in the second innings. The only exception to that would be England losing five wickets within this time period. In such a situation, the left-handed batter will bat at No. 7 – a number where he’s batted the most during the course of his 68-match Test career.
Hence, if either of the two English openers in Zak Crawley or Ben Duckett don’t survive for a couple of hours, the hosts will have to find a fourth No. 3 batter for this series. Before Ali, Harry Brook and Ollie Pope had batted at this position for England in Ashes 2023.
