We batted a bit like the old England side – Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali has said that England’s batting approach in the second ODI against Bangladesh was similar to how they played before their surge in limited-overs cricket
Mohammad Isam11-Oct-2016Moeen Ali has said that England’s batting approach in the second ODI against Bangladesh was similar to how the team played before their surge over the last 18 months in limited-overs cricket. He said that the team would rather lose while playing with their new-found, aggressive method than take a step back.On Sunday, in the second ODI, their innings run rate was 4.56 per over, their third-lowest in a completed innings over the last 18 months. They also struck only 17 fours and single six, while they have had at least seven matches during this time when they struck at least 10 sixes. But a disciplined bowling effort from Bangladesh and a sluggish pitch slowed them down in the 44.4 overs.”I think the most disappointing thing was that we batted a little bit like the old England for the first time in a couple of years,” Moeen said on the eve of the series-decider in Chittagong. “That’s more disappointing, the way we lost. We would rather lose the game playing the way we played in the last two years. So hopefully tomorrow [Wednesday] we can play the way we have been batting and not just throw our wickets away. It was a decent pitch to bat on.”Since their early exit in the 2015 World Cup, England have won four of the six bilateral ODI series. Fourteen of their 48 300-plus scores have come in the 32 matches during this period. Twice they have gone past 400 runs, a score they never touched earlier, and their overall run-rate in this period, 6.27 runs per over, is the highest among all teams.Eight of their batsmen have 100-plus strike-rates, making this one of the most aggressive England limited-overs line-ups in history. Another major indicator of their batting improvement is the increase in their historic run-rate, from 4.71 to 4.78, in these 18 months.Moeen said that they were not too concerned by the sudden downturn in their batting aggression, but admitted the team needed a quick turnaround.”We just took a small step back, it wasn’t as bad as probably the way Bangladesh batted in the first game. But these things can happen when you are chasing. We didn’t play the way we can play,” he said. “We played like we played almost back in the day.”England’s practice session was also affected by the heavy rain in Chittagong. The visitors could only finish their warm-ups in the morning session on Tuesday, and most of their net session was held at the indoor facilities.”We are used to this weather. Some of the guys had a hit, some guys have gone indoors,” Moeen said. “It is more of a mental preparation. Some guys batted well last game so preparation-wise, we are fine.”Moeen said that Bangladesh probably took their foot off the pedal towards the end of the first game, which allowed the visitors a dramatic win, but he felt England had not yet played their best game in the series.”We are a different side now than we were before. I know the last game we didn’t bat well,” he said. “Bangladesh are good at home anyway, any ground at home. It just eggs us on to score big runs and win.”It’s going to be a tough game for us we know that, they should have probably won the first game they let us off a little bit. We still have our best to come.”