Moeen Ali has dismissed concerns about Ben Stokes’s batting form as the T20 World Cup approaches. Moeen believes England’s red-ball captain, who has yet to make it to double figures or to score at more than a run a ball during the warm-up series against Australia, contributes so much in the field that he deserves his place in the side anyway.
Stokes retired from ODI cricket in July, citing the workload of playing all three formats and was named in the World Cup squad despite not playing a T20 international for more than 18 months. He has bowled two overs in each of England’s first two games against Australia – the last time he bowled his full allocation of four was against South Africa in February 2020 – but in the team’s most recent match, in Canberra on Wednesday, opened the bowling for the first time in his career. He also produced a jaw-dropping moment of fielding brilliance to turn a Mitchell Marsh shot from a six into a two.
