How do you solve a problem like Moeen Ali?
Parachuted in on the eve of the Ashes, England’s emergency back-up spinner is now broken himself, and unless a long-running finger injury solves itself in the next week, then Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum may well be forced to pick from the well of County Championship spinners they preferred to ignore just two weeks ago.
Speaking after England’s dramatic two-wicket defeat at Edgbaston, head coach McCullum insisted that despite Moeen’s badly blistered finger restricting the quantity and quality of overs he could bowl, the gamble of his selection had been worth it and that he expects him to play at Lord’s next week.
“I thought Mo did a great job,” said McCullum. “He bowled a couple of absolute jaffas in the game and that was what his role was.
“I’m pretty confident that over the next few days we can get on top of Mo’s finger and that’ll give us an opportunity to select him in the next game. If he’s available, he will be selected.”
McCullum’s confidence is in keeping with the relentlessly positive mantra of this England team, if not the reality of the situation.
Moeen has long struggled with blisters on his spinning finger, and after almost two years away from red-ball cricket, the calloused skin that had once served as protection is now soft and prone to tear. The result, as many professional spin bowlers attest, is desper-ately painful. Like wearing in a new pair of shoes, the solution is a combination of grinning and bearing the pain, while occasionally reaching for the slippers.
How you strike that balance during an Ashes series, however, is anyone’s guess.
“You have planning for everyone,” McCullum continued. “So you’ve got to have some ideas and some theories up your sleeve.”
What those options look like centre around the fitness of England’s other wounded warrior, Ben Stokes, and the additional bowling workload England are willing to give their star batter, Joe Root.
Stokes bowled 14 overs across the match, a figure that is cause for genuine optimism as evidence of his gradual return to fitness. But also a figure that is a cause for concern, given that such a relatively small step can indeed be celebrated. If Stokes is to be England’s fifth bowler, he will need to repeat his 14-over miracle four more times over the next five weeks.
“I have put my body through more than it has been over the last year,” Stokes said. “That’s great signs. Getting through that, not easily, because it was tough, but getting through knowing we still have four games coming up has given me a massive boost.”
If England are confident in Stokes’s ability to send down overs, the off-spin of Will Jacks, or the leg-spin of Rehan Ahmed become the likelier replacements for Moeen. With less required of the two inexperienced spinners, their greater ability with the bat becomes a stronger selling point.
But if England are not confident in Stokes’s ability to contribute with the ball, that then opens the door for Hampshire’s Liam Dawson. A relentlessly competent performer, Dawson has the added advantage of being a left-arm spinner, and therefore complementing the existing off-spin of Root in the team.
“I think Joe really stepped up,” McCullum said of Root, who bowled 15 overs in the fourth innings due to Moeen’s injury.
“We knew heading in, that we had someone who could also fill the void if things didn’t quite work out.”
Root is far more than a part-time bowler - even more so against left-handers, against whom he averages 31 with the ball (Moeen, by contrast averages 30 and Jack Leach 42).
With four left-handers in Australia’s top-seven, the option of backing Root to play as the sole spinner is a tempting one, even more so as it would then allow England to select Mark Wood as a fourth seamer, a pick that then eases the workload required from Stokes and adds a genuine 90mph threat to their attack.
“Woody’s a great bowler and he offers a real point of difference,” said McCullum. “He’ll always come into consideration for selection, especially on wickets that need a little bit more pace as well.”
With the quickfire nature of the series, England’s quicks are expected to be rotated over the course of the five matches, but the week-long break before Lord’s means the trio of James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad are likely to play again.
Anderson had an off-game at Edgbaston, and although unlikely, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that England could swap their legendary bowler for the likes of Wood if they wish to add a different dimension to their attack.
England are clear in what they want and that’s Moeen walking out at Lord’s next Wednesday. However, if the last week has shown us anything, it is that even the mystical Stokes and McCullum do not always have things their own way.
