Worcestershire captain, double century-maker and destroyer with the ball, Moeen Ali, gave his reaction to BBC Hereford-Worcester’s Dave Bradley at the end of day three of the Specsavers County Championship match with Yorkshire at Scarborough.
Moeen scored a magnificent 219 out of Worcestershire’s 572-7 declared and shared a second wicket stand of 294 with Daryl Mitchell (178) before taking four wickets as Yorkshire closed on 140-6 in their second innings.
The England all-rounder said: “It’s been a brilliant day. We’ve had three fantastic days. I think we’ve outplayed Yorkshire, and it’s set us up to win the game tomorrow hopefully.
“Yesterday we felt we had to get our heads down. We set it up for today and earned the right to play how we did today.
“We scored so quickly that we could keep them out there in the field for a bit longer and make them tired. It’s worked fantastically well.
“Yesterday myself and Mitch put in the hard work and we got rewarded for it today.
“Mitch (Daryl Mitchell) is an amazing player. He’s the one player I really enjoy batting with.
“I think everyone can see the way we run between the wickets, for example. He said when we were fielding in the first innings that it would take a grubby Mitchell type of innings, and that’s exactly what he’s done. Full credit to him.
“I knew I was going to play a big part with the ball. It’s spinning, and hopefully I can pick up some more tomorrow.
“Wayne (Parnell) bowled at a good pace throughout and probably his worse ball got the wicket (of Kane Williamson).
“But he has been fantastic for us ever since he started training with us.
“Any thoughts on nudging the England selectors? I just try and do my best for Worcestershire. I’ve managed to score some runs and take some wickets and that’s all you can do.
“I’ve not really thought about anything. I actually enjoy being part of things with Worcestershire. All you can do is put numbers on the board and see what happens.”
Yorkshire’s Josh Poysden said: “It’s been a pretty tough game for us so far. Playing a team down at the bottom, it’s been disappointing to find ourselves in this position.
“At the same time, we’ve got to scrap for everything we can. We’ve spoken about showing a bit of pride in playing for Yorkshire and making it as hard as possible for them tomorrow.
“These things happen in cricket. We’ve obviously found ourselves a long way behind the eight ball in this game. But it’s a chance to show some character.
“It was only the last game at Old Trafford that we got a win in a Roses game. But these things happen. In first-class cricket cricket when you get behind the eight ball, you can really come out on the wrong side of a game. It’s not easy.”
