Hat-tricks, hundreds and wickets: Moeen Ali's top 10 Test moments

CHARLIE PETERS looks back on 10 of Moeen Ali's standout performances for England in the Test arena

108* v Sri Lanka, 2014

Moeen demonstrated his stroke-making ability just two matches into his Test career, compiling an unbeaten 108 in against Sri Lanka at Headingley. His second-innings knock was full of composure and maturity, as he valiantly attempted to shepherd England’s tail towards a hard-earned draw.

It would unfortunately be in vain, Moeen running out of partners in the final over as James Anderson fell, but his knock nonetheless demonstrated a strong sense of tactical nous. For a player who has often unfairly been written off as too carefree against the red ball, his maiden century was a special innings.

6 for 67 v India, 2014

It wasn’t long until Moeen was winning Test matches with the ball, too. After England had set India a mammoth 445 to win in the third game of the series, Moeen ensured that the away side didn’t get close, grabbing six scalps, including the key wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, to guide England to a 266-run victory at Southampton.

England had not won a Test for almost 12 months at the time: it was amid that restless backdrop that Moeen shone, leading the charge with a clinical display.

^{Moeen on his way to a century against Sri Lanka at Headingley, 2014}

5 for 57 v Bangladesh, 2016

The allrounder’s second Test five-wicket-haul came in Bangladesh, wreaking havoc to ignite a home team collapse from 171 for 1 to 220 all out. His off spin was the catalyst for England taking nine wickets for just 49 runs, removing Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque with consecutive deliveries to trigger Bangladesh’s first innings implosion at Dhaka.

England would eventually come up 108 short in their second innings despite Moeen’s efforts on day one. But his display demonstrated an inherent ability to singlehandedly change the momentum of a day’s play.

155* v Sri Lanka, 2016

A second Test century would come later that summer, sparking what would be Moeen’s finest year with the bat in the whites of England. Again unbeaten, and again versus a touring Sri Lanka, the allrounder racked up 155 from just 207 deliveries in the first innings, smashing seventeen fours and two sixes in what was arguably one of the definitive Moeen Ali Test knocks.

The left-hander was at his elegant, free-flowing best, flaying the tourist’s tiring spin attack to all corners of Chester-Le-Street. A glorious swat for six over cow corner exemplified Moeen’s ability to take a game out of reach.

63, 86 and 2 for 49 v Pakistan, 2016

Moeen’s spectacular summer continued with a man of the match performance against Pakistan at Edgbaston. A patient first innings 63 was followed by an unbeaten 83 in the second, a knock that rapidly shifted gears, and included 12 boundaries.

Joined by Jonny Bairstow, Moeen’s brutal hitting from No.7 allowed England to declare on 445 for 6, setting Pakistan 343 to win. He would then go on to grab the wickets of Azhar Ali and Sohail Khan, as England won by 141 runs. In terms of an all-round impression on a Test match, Moeen has never had a more impactful one.

^{Virat Kohli falls at Southampton}

108 v Pakistan, 2016

The fourth and final Test in the same series would also prove to be a fruitful one for Moeen, as he went on the counter-attack to make a third test century in the first innings at the Kia Oval. Moeen top-scored with 108, propping up England’s struggling top order and helping them to a decent total of 328.

It would end up being for a losing cause, as England slumped to a 10-wicket defeat. But the loss would have felt all the more brutal had Moeen not turned the tides in the way he did. To salvage the innings as he did, coming in at 110 for 5, demonstrated his class.

117 v India, 2016

Another 2016 Test match, another player-of-the-match display from Moeen Ali. The allrounder was England’s third centurion at Rajkot, milking India’s three-pronged spin attack of Amit Mishra, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with little cause for concern on his way to an immaculately well-composed 117.

It’s often said that Ali is a fine player on spin, and his performance on a slow Rajkot track went some way to backing that perception up. Moeen also picked up three wickets with the ball, including those of Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha, before the Test eventually fizzled out into a draw.

^{Moeen produced a superb all-round performance against South Africa at Lord's, 2017}

146 v India, 2016

Promoted to No.4 in the absence of Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett, Moeen made his fourth Test century of the year in the first innings of the fifth match of the tour at Chennai. Again, he was in complete control against the spin, accumulating his 146 runs at a relative canter.

The innings may have paled somewhat in comparison with Karun Nair’s headline-grabbing triple hundred, in a match where India racked up 759 from their only innings. But it was nonetheless a superb knock, that – to date – remains Moeen’s last Test ton.

87, 4 for 59 and 6 for 53 v South Africa, 2017

Moeen’s dominant display with bat and ball helped England wallop South Africa by 211 at Lord’s in the summer of 2017. A first innings 87 from No.7 steered the hosts towards what would go on to be the match’s highest innings total of 458, before grabbing four poles in the tourists’ first innings and six in their second to claim his maiden Test match ten-wicket haul.

Ali sent Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma back to the hutch twice in a performance that saw him leapfrog Ben Stokes to become England’s highest-rated test allrounder. Later in the same series, he ended England’s victory at the Kia Oval with a hat-trick, famously dismissing Elgar, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel in successive deliveries – the last of the three on review – before being held aloft by his teammates as the hat-trick was confirmed on the big screen.

4 for 128, 4 for 98 and 43 v India, 2021

The first Test of England’s 2021 tour of India may have ended in rather awkward circumstances for Moeen, after an error in communication had incorrectly implied he “chose” to depart the tour after just one match, rather than simply adhering to the unilaterally agreed rest and rotation policy.

But things on the field were anything but for the allrounder, who claimed four wickets in each innings before adding a valuable 43 with the bat. England may have lost in a 317-run thumping, but Moeen proved to be one of their few shining lights in a largely dismal display.