‘The Ashes is huge’ – Fried chicken and atmosphere herald the return of Moeen Ali

“I hadn’t heard the news about Leachy yet [Jack Leach] at the time. So I just said ‘LOL’, assuming he was in charge.”

Just a few things to unpack there. A 35-year-old man using “lol” is one of them, even though it’s more common than you might think. I didn’t hear about the injury to the lone Bazball spinner until the England Test captain sent the sort of “you up? X” text England cricketers dream of – very much different.

The next day Moeen was at The Grove Hotel as part of a PCA Team England Golf Day. It was known that an approach had been made and he had been given time to think it over. But until official confirmation arrived on Wednesday morning, the strongest clue that he wanted to attract the whites again was a secret photo taken by someone at the hotel that was beginning to gain traction over TikTok.

It shows Moeen, dressed in a Liverpool shirt, flanked by Adil Rashid, having a conversational conversation with Stokes and Director of Men’s Cricket Rob Key. In the middle is a bag of Sam’s Chicken.

“That was me and Rash,” Moeen affirmed on the bag of fried treats. “We were hungry and arrived a little late.”

A laissez-faire approach to the seriousness of Test cricket, an appreciation of fried chicken like the one England had shown last year on an early morning drive to Nottingham’s Mega Munch after beating New Zealand at Trent Bridge. Moeen would always fit the bill, wouldn’t it?

As he joined his teammates for his first red-ball training session since September 2021 ahead of the most highly anticipated home Ashes series since 2005, the atmosphere couldn’t have been spottier. Whether that gives you confidence is something else entirely. If sport – ergo, cricket – is the most important of the least important things, then a five-match Test series against Australia is the least important. Vibes might only take you so far, even if they took this team to 11 wins out of 13.

The sun was shining bright enough on Tuesday to make the Australians feel at home, who were happy with the morning session in Edgbaston as an emergency alarm triggered an evacuation of the stadium. No harm to the tourists, who simply spent their remaining time on the outfield and adjacent outdoor nets.

In the end, it barely affected England, who were out as planned for the second half of the day. A team meeting started with a round of applause for Moeen’s return before Brendon McCullum said a few words. From there, they broke into separate packages.

For the first time in an open practice session this summer, Stokes bowled to the fullest. He started with walkthroughs in the middle before cutting off his full run-up with tape measure to send down about twice worth of supplies. He was joined halfway through by Moeen, who sent down about as many under the watchful eye of spin coach – and one-time Warwickshire offspinner – Jeetan Patel.

Coincidentally, the last time Moeen bowled a red Dukes ball was the day Stokes messaged him. The Birmingham Bears skipper trained in Edgbaston ahead of Vitality Blast games against Northants and Derbyshire. “I saw a red ball and had a few balls,” he said. “But not good.”

One of the reasons to fear that Moeen’s U-turn in retirement may not work, beyond justifiable trepidation about his willingness not to play a first-class match since the last of 64 test caps in September 2021, is the robustness of his spinning finger.

After ripping it open in the summer of 2017, he fought his way through the 2017-18 Ashes, taking just five wickets over as many Tests, with an eye-watering average of 115. It again emerged as a problem during the first Ashes season. test of 2019, at Edgbaston no less. After match figures of 3 for 137, he sat out for the rest of the summer.

Time away may have helped. Even though a white ball spinner’s workload is fairly limited, the all-rounder hasn’t bowled that much. He scored just two overs in England’s successful T20 World Cup campaign in October, and 26 from 15 appearances for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. Since then there have been 11 overs in three innings for the Bears.

The problem, however, is the prouder seam on the red Dukes ball, which could literally and figuratively reopen a wound. However, Moeen doesn’t seem concerned.

“There’s been a lot of players, past players who’ve played a lot of games and never won an Ashes series. So to have that is great. But I’d like to have number two. The Ashes is huge”

“It’s all right, actually,” Moeen said over his right index finger. “Obviously I haven’t bowled much with the red ball, but it seems to be OK. We’ll see after I’ve bowled about 15 overs.

“I didn’t think too much about that. Depends on the pressure that comes into the games, the hardness of the ball and all that stuff. It should work out.”

Although the squad has been picked for the next two tests, Moeen also believes this is his fate until the end of July.

“If you’re in, you’re in. Baz said, look, even after two games, if you’ve done well and enjoyed it, that’s fine. He’s clearly convinced I’ll enjoy it, that’s the plan. ” “

As for the test tour of India in early 2024, he says that’s too far – although adding “I don’t think I’ll do that, I really do” strongly depicts his place in this group. This is far from succession planning. But as part of a team that wants to live in the moment, Moeen has become their newest totem since last week.

He had an offer from the United States to take part in this summer’s Major League Cricket, but he wasn’t going to do it because it would mean canceling his contract with the ECB, as Jason Roy did. With the ODI World Cup in October, the vice-captain remains in place. At least for now. When asked about the 2024 MLC, he offered an open-ended, “We’ll see”.

While his recent memories of playing against Australia aren’t that great, his first run in 2015 is one that those who were there and those who weren’t will want to replicate. It was the last time England claimed the urn.

If he repeated that form of eight years ago, with 12 dismissals and 293 runs with the bat – surpassing 200 and 3000 in his Test career – it would all have been worth it. It is indeed what pulled him out of his Test exile.

“It’s one of those Ashes that nobody really remembers for some reason,” he said of the 2015 series, which England won 3-2. “But it was definitely one of my career highlights, right up there with the World Cups.

“Because the Ashes aren’t easy, as we know. And there’s been a lot of players, past players who’ve played a lot of games and never won an Ashes series. So that’s great.

“But I’d like to have number two. The Ashes is huge.”