Considering Moeen Ali’s normal workload over the last two years has been to bowl four overs a match, no wonder he was not as sprightly as normal when leaving the Edgbaston field.
But after 29 overs of hard graft, Moeen still had the energy to remove his cap and acknowledge the appreciation that saluted his efforts.
It was not quite the storybook return to Test bowling that Ben Stokes and the nation had hoped for but there was enough evidence to suggest the script could still have a dreamy ending.
