Moeen Ali has been in both dressing rooms. The ones where everything clicks and all goes well. Everyone talks, everyone’s together. He’s been in the other sort, too, the ones where everything goes wrong, it all unravels quickly, and before you know it team-mates have scattered to all corners of the changing area.
‘The contrast is big,’ Moeen tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘You can sense it.’
The all-rounder was at the heart of two triumphant World Cup campaigns with England in 2019 and 2022, across both 50-over and T20 formats, but also part of sides that crashed out in the pool stages in 2015 and 2023.
We are about to find out into which camp the current England crop will fall when they begin their quest for a third world T20 crown against Nepal on Sunday. Moeen knows you tend to find these things out quickly.
Brendan McCullum’s side head into it with spirits high after an impressive series whitewash over Sri Lanka but with the bruises of the Ashes humbling still sore.
‘My worry is that if things don’t start well, we could be terrible and it could go down quickly,’ says Moeen. ‘But I think we have enough quality for that not to happen.
‘We’ve been playing well in Sri Lanka and it’s a different group of players and sometimes there’s fresh energy and experience that new players like Rash (Adil Rashid) and Jos (Buttler) can bring.
‘It’s been a long winter. The scrutiny was difficult for everyone. There’s been so much negativity people then become afraid to make mistakes. When they start making mistakes, they go into their shell, and once you’re in your shell, you are not the player you are. That’s what I worry about a little bit with the players who have been there for the long run but I don’t see it happening. I think we’ve got a chance of winning, though I think India are still favourites.’
At the forefront of England’s hopes is captain Harry Brook, who admitted he was lucky to still be skipper after he was ‘clocked’ by a bouncer in a drunken altercation with a bouncer in New Zealand the night before a game just weeks ahead of the Ashes series.
He responded by scoring a hundred and celebrating by smashing his gloves together to imitate wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin drinking two cans of beer.
‘I don’t think he has a point to prove but I think he’s somebody that will prove points,’ says Moeen. ‘He will take it all into his stride. He knows he made a mistake.
‘There’s certain characters in cricket that, weirdly, have to make these mistakes. Sometimes it just follows them but, whatever it is, that’s what makes them so good.
‘He’s one of them. I think [Ben] Stokes is the other one and there’s been many before. You had Freddie [Flintoff] before him, Ian Botham was the same. David Gower flew the plane over the ground in Australia.
‘Brook will have learned so much from what happened. He is still playing some outstanding innings. Everyone makes mistakes. The only reason Brooky’s case got highlighted is because we lost. If we won, everyone says he’s a great lad.’
England’s dearth of spin bowlers also came to the fore during the Ashes, with Shoaib Bashir, who was supposed to be their first-choice spinner, unselected. Adil Rashid, who became the first England bowler to take 150 international T20 wickets, will lead England’s spin attack over the new few weeks while Bethall and Will Jacks shone in wrapping up the Sri Lanka series win.
‘My biggest issue has always been the lack of bowling we do as spinners,’ says Moeen, who describes himself as a ‘part-time spinner’ despite taking 366 international wickets.
‘We bowl for an hour and think we’ve worked hard and then you go to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the guys have been bowling for four hours.
‘I played with Sunil Narine in the IPL and one day we were on the bus to training. I’d just got out of bed, was half asleep, I was like “where’s Sunil?” Someone said he’s already at the ground, he was there three hours ago. He did it every time. Hours and hours to trying to perfect your art.’
Moeen, who has joined the Sky Sports punditry team for the World Cup, will look to help the next generation of England stars perfect theirs too as part of Flintoff’s coaching squad alongside Stokes for the England Lions series against Pakistan in the UAE.
‘Whatever I have learned over the years I want to give back as much as I can,’ says Moeen. ‘I don’t think there’s anything better than passing on your knowledge.’
And what about his new role on the other side of the fence as a Sky pundit? Will he turn sharply against some old pals?
‘There were periods when I thought certain pundits had it in for me but as I got older and smarter, I realised they were just doing their job,’ says Moeen. ‘If I have to criticise someone, that’s fine.’
Sky Sports is the exclusive home of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, showing all matches live between February 7 through to the final on March 8. Also available on NOW.
