England will be without frontline spinner Jack Leach for the upcoming Ashes and he has been replaced by veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali, a decision which has not gone down well with former England batter Mark Butcher. During a podcast with the Wisden Cricket Weekly, he questioned the decision to bring Moeen out of retirement for the Ashes, given his poor record in the competition.
“I’m slightly baffled by the whole thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of hoping going on… Jack Leach, is a holding bowler for Ben Stokes right? Moeen Ali has never been a holding bowler in his entire career and has not played any red-ball cricket for two years. His Ashes record is pretty bad with bat and with ball and he has had no interest in playing long-form cricket ever since his retirement.
He compared the move to big a sportsperson like Michael Jordan, or Ian Botham in 1981, and said the decision is going to backfire. “It’s not like you’re bringing Michael Jordan out of retirement, is it? You’re not bringing somebody back who had a Botham’s Ashes in ’81, you’re bringing back someone who’s kind of done okay at times, and those times were a very long time ago.”
Moeen hasn’t played first-class cricket since 2021 when he last faced India in a Test. He has taken 20 wickets in 11 matches against Australia, averaging 64.65. But the biggest factor is that he announced his retirement from Test cricket before the last Ashes series in Australia. But he temporarily reversed his decision in 2022.
Following the news of Jack Leach being ruled out of the five-Test match Ashes series with a stress fracture, England approached Moeen to come out of retirement once more, with players like Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed being ignored.
“I wouldn’t have asked him. I don’t blame him for saying yes, but I just wouldn’t have asked him… If I had not played long-form cricket for two years and had been happily in retirement from the format for two years, and a week before the Ashes started, someone said Do you want to play? I would’ve said no.
“He’s gone for runs in his entire Ashes career, he’s averaged what, 65 with the ball? He’s not even half-baked this time, is he? Come on, seriously? Unbelievable, listen to what you’re saying. I’d have a proper professional off-spinner, left-arm spinner, or even a leg-spinner playing over someone who doesn’t really want to play the format. I’m sorry if that sounds wild but to me, that seems perfectly reasonable.”
Ahmed took seven wickets on his Test debut and should have been preferred over Jacks. “We’ve had this conversation a thousand times,” said Butcher. “We’ve had two of them play in a two-spin attack of the course of the winter and both of them did alright, and both of them are playing four-day cricket.
England face Australia in five Tests as part of The Ashes, starting from June 16 and going on till July 27
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