![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/moeen-ali-shows-just-why-he-cant-be-ignored-as-crucial-wickets-give-england-ashes-hope/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/0_England-v-Australia-LV-Insurance-Ashes-3rd-Test-Match-Day-Two.jpg&description="Just when those blasted Aussies appeared to be disappearing over the horizon with the sacred urn, the all-rounder who answered his captain's Ashes SOS dragged them back into the contest." His death-wish batting would have made Charles Bronson blush – but then he winkled out England's nemesis as his 200th Test wicket. Moeen Ali's dismissal in the pre-lunch procession of lemmings over a cliff was enough to make you hide behind the sofa in despair. But just when those blasted Aussies appeared to be disappearing over the horizon with the sacred urn, the all-rounder who answered his captain's Ashes SOS dragged them back into the contest. Love him or leave him, you can't ignore Mo. When he got away with one attempted pull through square leg off Aussie six-shooter Pat Cummins, the ball falling charitably between fielders, it should have been a warning to lay off the aerial route. But he tried the same shot again minutes later, skied it like golfer's pitching wedge at the pin, and this time Cummins had laid the mousetrap with cheese. England, six down, were not even halfway to Australia's 263 all out and the groans around Headingley were conspicuous as Ali departed for 21. Only Ben Stokes' latest audition for a superhero's cape, and Mark Wood's hilarious eight-ball cameo, hauled England within range and limited their first-innings deficit to 26. From his first ball, Wood pulled Mitchell Starc for six – shades of Ian Botham hoisting Craig McDermott into the Edgbaston pavilion in 1985, although Beefy marched in to bat at 572-4, not 142-7. If only Jonny Bairstow, Ali and Chris Woakes, whose dismissals were somewhere between skittish and harebrained, England might even have pinched a valuable lead. But as the Aussies stretched their advantage, it was Moeen who kept them within range. First Marnus Labuschagne, whose top score in the series is 47, holed out to Harry Brook on the deep midwicket boundary - and then came the crown jewel. Steve Smith, on his 100th Test appearance, s){kind=link}
“Just when those blasted Aussies appeared to be disappearing over the horizon with the sacred urn, the all-rounder who answered his captain’s Ashes SOS dragged them back into the contest.”
His death-wish batting would have made Charles Bronson blush â but then he winkled out England’s nemesis as his 200th Test wicket.
Moeen Ali’s dismissal in the pre-lunch procession of lemmings over a cliff was enough to make you hide behind the sofa in despair.
But just when those blasted Aussies appeared to be disappearing over the horizon with the sacred urn, the all-rounder who answered his captain’s Ashes SOS dragged them back into the contest.
Love him or leave him, you can’t ignore Mo.