worcestershire rapids head coach kevin sharp says it will not be long before moeen ali is again firing on all cylinders with the bat as he prepares to face his former county warwickshire in tomorrow’s (thursday’s) vital royal london one-day cup match at edgbaston under lights.
the england all-rounder has played a full part with the ball including a list a career best return of 4-33 in the meeting with notts outlaws at trent bridge last week.
sharp believes the 30-year-old will also soon be making a big impact in the other part of his game as he gears up for england’s odi match against scotland and the five match odi series versus australia during june.
he said: “mo is a dangerous player. i think it is difficult for mo at the moment because he has not really had much of a bat these last few months.
“he has been in the ipl and played only a handful of games and he has had a difficult winter so he has not spent masses of time at the crease.
“he got an absolute jaffer of a delivery on sunday (from ben sanderson), a brilliant ball, and that’s cricket isn’t it and sometimes when you are searching a little bit, these things happen.
“but we know he is a class player and it will only be a matter of a short period of time and he will be back, for sure.
“look at his stats, that’s all you have to do.”
moeen already has 50 test, 73 odi and 22 t20is under his belt for england and sharp believes joe clarke is also destined for international honours.
clarke scored a superb 122 in the victory over northamptonshire steelbacks at New Road on sunday.
sharp said: “i am sure he will play for england. that’s what he wants to do. he is a class player, he proves that regularly.
“all he has to do is keep scoring runs really. if he keeps scoring runs like that, then he won’t be too far away from international selection.
“he is still learning, he is still relatively young. but he is a learner and sometimes, if you don’t quite get it right, that’s a good thing.
“you sometimes learn more from times when you don’t get it quite right and you think ‘i’ll get it right next time.’”