Photo Credit: BCCI
Joburg Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali says England won’t revert to “Bazball” in their must-win ICC World Cup clash against Sri Lanka today.
England, the reigning world champions, are currently languishing in eighth place, having already suffered three defeats in the competition from four starts.
“Bazball” is the moniker given to the tactics that England’s Test side have employed over the past 12 months under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, which centers around an ultra-offensive approach in all facets of the game.
Moeen is fully aware of the fact that England’s 2023 World Cup hopes are hanging on by the barest of margins but feels that the formula to reap ODI success is to return to their own unique white-ball gameplans that in part led to the birth of “Bazball.”
“Everything is a must-win and we know we’ve been in this position before, probably not to this degree, but we know everything is a must-win and we have to get our confidence and perform well and bat and bowl and field better than we have done so far in this tournament,” said Moeen, who will feature for JSK for the first time in Betway SA20 Season 2.
“The thing is, Bazball is in Test cricket. One-day cricket’s different and we’ve been playing different all the time. And we’ve been playing aggressive cricket throughout 2015 and have done it quite well.
“I think probably the lack of that way of cricket has probably cost us a little bit in this tournament. We haven’t been playing that way in my opinion and I think we need to play that way, but without slogging the ball, but just be that really aggressive side that we know we can be.”
Moeen has not played since England’s tournament opening defeat to New Zealand and is desperate to get back into the starting XI to “make some sort of difference”.
England also have a host of Betway SA20 stars and players with vast Indian Premier League experience, like their skipper and Paarl Royals opener Jos Buttler, and it’s their knowledge, along with Moeen’s, that will hopefully make a difference at the traditionally high-scoring M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore today.
“Yeah, look at the vice-captain, you try and give as much input as you can, especially when the captain asks your opinion on things,” Moeen said.
“I just try and help out as much as I can but Jos has played a lot here as well, so he knows a lot of the conditions, and he knows what happens in India.
“And yeah, he bounces a few ideas off me, and I do the same thing. My job is to, whenever he asks me something, to give him an answer as much as I can and be clear in that.”
England have also called up Sunrisers Eastern Cape all-rounder Brydon Carse to replace Durban’s Super Giants left-arm seamer Reece Topley, who suffered a broken finger in the last match against South Africa in Mumbai.
