England all-rounder Moeen Ali finished the English summer in fine fettle having had a successful return to the Test side against India and having led Worcestershire to the Vitality T20 Blast title. And he continued his good form with three wickets against a Sri Lankan Board XI on Friday in a comfortable victory for England in their first warm-up match ahead of the five game ODI series.
Moeen took the first three Sri Lankan wickets to fall and all of them were international batsmen. He dismissed both openers, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne, in the tenth over and returned later to remove Kusal Mendis.
As well as the wickets, Moeen also kept things tight – his ten overs cost just 42 runs – and together with leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who also went at less than five runs an over, helped restrict the Sri Lankans to 287 for 9 from their 50 overs.
England, wearing red shirts, the colour they will wear in the ODI series so as to not clash with Sri Lanka’s blue, made light work of that thanks to an unbeaten partnership of 174 between captain Eoin Morgan and Test skipper Joe Root which saw them finish above the Duckworth Lewis total when rain brought proceedings to an early close.
Today’s performance was a good opening to the tour for Moeen and Rashid who will both be expected to do well in conditions which should suit them. There will be plenty of bowling for both spinners over the course of the next few weeks. “It’s always nice to tour somewhere where you think you’re going to play a big role – it does give you that extra bit more,” Moeen said.
“It’s never a guarantee that you’re going to go well. I’ve had that experience as well, going to India and stuff. You’ve got to stay calm about it – can’t get too far ahead.
“It’s good for my own confidence to get a couple of wickets upfront against two of their more international type of players. It was nice to get them in the Powerplay. These guys are used to these conditions, and they are good players in these conditions. It’s not going to be as easy as people think, but as a spinner you do have things in your favour, and that always helps.
“I thought we bowled well as a team to keep them down – it was a very good wicket. It was nice to come out and break that partnership initially and then to get the other guy out. It was good for your confidence.”
In reply, Morgan and Root dominated the home team’s bowlers after Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy had both been dismissed inside the first nine overs. The captain, who finished 91 not out from 84 deliveries, looked in particularly good touch. “He’s a fantastic player of spin, and I personally love the way he plays when he plays with intent,” Moeen said of Morgan. “It’s great to see some of the shots that he played today.”
A 43-run victory on Duckworth Lewis was a strong start to the tour for England and they will be looking for a similarly dominant showing in their second and final warm-up game on Sunday. “As the No. 1 side now, you don’t want to come here and start with a loss, especially to a side that’s not their main side,” Moeen added.
“The philosophy that Trev [Bayliss] and Morg have tried to emphasise is that we need to win these games quite comfortably. As a side you don’t want to stumble.”
