England captain Moeen Ali questions his batsmen’s “attacking and entertaining” brand of cricket
For a while now, England have been gung-ho about their attacking batting brand of cricket be it in Tests or white-ball format, but now Mooen Ali has urged his batsmen to respect the conditions and game situation too.
“It was most disappointing loss, especially the way we batted. Of course, you want to play this attacking entertaining brand of cricket but mainly you also have to see the situation of the game and the conditions. Today all we needed was one partnership: 60-70 runs partnership at the top, we could have won the game. I feel today was most disappointing performance with the bat for sure,” Mooen Ali, England’s captain, said after a last-over loss in the 5th T20 against Pakan in Lahore.
A valiant effort from Mo but Pakan win to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
Scorecard: https://t.co/qU4KIImSvm
🇵🇰#PAKvENG 🏴 pic.twitter.com/dFk0QhJG1Q
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 28, 2022
It was a sentiment that was shared former Pakan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on his Youtube channel.
“England played poorly. They want to go in and be aggressive which is fine but shot selection should be a lot better on such conditions. No one took responsibility in the top order,” Inzamam said.
Former England opener and commentator Mark Butcher called England’s batting approach “daft”.
“”I have no problem with players going gung-ho in the powerplay but when you lose two wickets you are perhaps best building a partnership and playing the situation. Their approach seemed daft to me. Twice on the trot the batting has [stuttered] in run chases. It’s not alarm bells but it might be worth having a chat,” he said on air.
Interestingly, Inzamam also questioned Pakan’s middle-order and said it remains a worry. “Often, wins put a curtain on the weaknesses and this has been the case with Pakan this series. The bowlers have been very good but the batting has been concern … Simple things like it was very obvious that Mark Wood has been taking most of his wickets with bouncers; so as a batsman you have to be ready …”
