England all-rounder Moeen Ali made his comeback to Test cricket after being convinced by teammate Ben Stokes to represent England in the Ashes 2023. On his return, Moeen proved to be a handful for Australian batters, as he bamboozled Cameron Green with a turning delivery that rattled his stumps. Green was batting at 38 and had stitched together a fifty partnership with Usman Khawaja. Commentators Ricky Ponting and Nasser Hussain were impressed with Ali’s delivery, with Ponting describing it as vicious and Hussain praising it as an absolute beauty and a Jaffa.
Ali managed to take two wickets with his impressive bowling before producing a moment of magic with the ball. He bowled an ‘absolute beauty’ outside the off-stump, which drifted and spun away from Green, who attempted to play a drive but missed as the ball turned viciously after bouncing off the surface and went through the gap between bat and pad and rattled his stumps.
Ali managed to score just 18 runs in his aggressive batting style, but he made a significant impact with the ball. He hunted down Travis Head before dismissing the well-set Green. Ali’s delivery was well-timed and quite unexpected, and it managed to evoke great appreciation from the two commentators and cricket fans alike.
The ongoing Ashes series has been a fascinating battle, with both teams performing exceptionally well. On the first day of the first Test, England scored 393/8, and then Stokes made an audacious call to declare and invited Australia to bat. They finished with 14/0 at Stumps, although England pulled away with three wickets in the first session on Day 2. After a mixed second session shared by both teams ended, Australia managed to score 188/4 at Tea before then going on to cross the 220-run mark when Green got dismissed.
