Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Atherton Praise As Moeen Finishes Second Highest Scorer In Sri Lanka

Atherton Praise As Moeen Finishes Second Highest Scorer In Sri Lanka

Moeen Ali finished as England's second highest scorer behind Joe Root in the One-Day International Series in Sri Lanka which ended on Tuesday.

The Worcestershire all-rounder opened in all seven games and ended with 236 runs at an average of 33.71 – starting with a century and ending with a duck.

Moeen struck more sixes – 12 – than any other England player – and had the highest strike rate of 123.56.

He put together scores of 119, two, 58, four, 19, 34 and nought in the series which ended with England losing 5-2 to the host nation.

Moeen reserved his best bowling performance of the series until last with figures of 2-39 from 10 overs.

His five wickets cost 63.80 runs apiece but at an economy rate of 5.15 runs per over – the second best of the England bowlers behind James Tredwell.

The England selectors will meet on Friday to discuss their squad for the Tri-Nation Series involving hosts Australia and India in the New Year and the ICC World Cup.

Meanwhile, former England captain Mike Atherton has praised Moeen's achievements during the past 12 months in his column in The Times newspaper.

Atherton writes: "There will be plenty of cricket (ahead) for a man who emerged from his cricketing chrysalis this year.

"Moeen Ali established himself in both Test and one-day teams in 2014 as a free-flowing, attractive batsman towatch and as a cricketer with an ability to learn on his feet, given how quickly his off-spin improved.

"His hundred at Headingley against Sri Lanka was, technically and temperamentally, the innings of the summer, and nothing was more surprising than his bundle of wickets against India.

"It was more than that, though. There was calmness and serenity in his play and thought and wisdom in his public pronouncements, both of which served as a welcome antidote to the boorishness and shrillness that pervaded the summer.

"He was booed, disgracefully, during a one-day international at Edgbaston in his home city towards the end of the season. That summed up the kind of petty, vindictive year it was for the most part in cricket in England. Ali's measured response marked him out as well."

FINAL AVERAGES

BATTING

M I NO R HS BF Min Avge 100 50 4s 6s SR

Root 7 7 2 367 104* 454 657 73.4 1 2 20 4 80.84

Taylor 4 4 0 170 90 215 278 42.5 0 2 12 3 79.07

Moeen 7 7 0 236 119 191 289 33.71 1 1 21 12 123.56

Bopara 6 6 0 185 65 234 339 30.83 0 2 8 3 79.06

Buttler 7 7 2 145 55* 144 168 29.0 0 1 14 2 100.69

Bell 2 2 0 46 35 47 58 23.0 0 0 3 0 97.87

Woakes 7 5 0 103 41 126 171 20.6 0 0 9 0 81.75

Cook 6 6 0 119 34 177 189 19.83 0 0 14 1 67.23

Tredwell 5 4 1 51 19 62 78 17.0 0 0 1 2 82.26

Morgan 7 7 0 90 62 103 139 12.86 0 1 6 3 87.38

Hales 3 3 0 34 27 45 74 11.33 0 0 2 1 75.56

Stokes 3 2 0 22 16 33 36 11.0 0 0 1 0 66.67

Gurney 3 3 2 8 6* 18 32 8.0 0 0 0 0 44.44

Finn 5 3 2 2 1* 9 16 2.0 0 0 0 0 22.22

Jordan 5 3 0 5 4 9 17 1.67 0 0 1 0 55.56

BOWLING

O M I R W Avge Best Econ

Woakes 58.0 1 7 354 14 25.29 6-47 6.10

Jordan 46.0 0 5 260 10 26.0 2-35 5.65

Finn 37.4 2 5 219 5 43.8 2-53 5.81

Tredwell 46.0 2 5 219 4 54.75 2-52 4.76

Moeen 62.0 0 7 319 5 63.8 2-39 5.15

Bopara 15.0 0 5 82 1 82.0 1-24 5.47

Root 21.0 0 6 109 1 109.0 1-21 5.19

Gurney 24.2 0 3 158 1 158.0 1-60 6.49

Stokes 8.0 0 3 85 0 0.0 0 10.62