LONDON Moeen Ali believes he is ready to make his return to the England Test set-up. The all-rounder has not played a Test since The Ashes last year, having taken a break from the longest format after being dropped following the first Test of the drawn series and losing his central contract. He scored only four runs with the bat across two innings against Australia at Edgbaston, twice being undone by fellow off-spinner Nathan Lyon, while taking disappointing match figures of 3-172 with the ball. There was talk of him returning for England’s victorious series in South Africa, but he was not selected and Moeen stated that would have felt too soon. However, the threat of the coronavirus wiping out the remainder of the 2020 schedule has helped Moeen rediscover his love for the longest format. In a Q&A for The Guardian, Moeen was asked when he thought he would be ready to return to the Test team. “I think I’d probably be ready now, to be honest,” he replied. “Clearly I would have to be playing well and win a spot back on merit but in terms of being available – and obviously I’m speaking hypothetically – if there was a Test match tomorrow and I got the call, I’d say ‘yes’. “We’re all missing cricket right now and the coronavirus [hiatus] makes you realise what you love. It could take out the whole summer and that would be a big thing.”—AFP
