London
England allrounder Moeen Ali is returning home midway through the test series against India after choosing to take up the option of a rest period available to all multi-format players to manage their workload in a busy year of international cricket.Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood and Sam Curran have all been granted similar breaks during a run of six back-to-back tests, starting with the two-match series in Sri Lanka last month.
The 33-year-old Moeen missed the series in Sri Lanka after testing positive for COVID-19 on arrival in the country, which forced him to spend a combined 20 days in hotel isolation due to quarantine requirements. He wasn’t picked for the first test against India, won by England, but was in the team for the second — also in Chennai — which marked his comeback after an 18-month absence from the longer format.
Moeen, who replaced Dom Bess, took eight wickets and hit England’s top score of the match with 43 in the fourth innings as India swept to a 317-run win on Tuesday.—AP
