FEELING THE BURN
ASHES TO ASHES
What’s it like to be burned by cricket’s most iconic series?
JIM WALLACE Wisden staff writer @Jimbo_Cricket
Ashes?
LOL
So went the text exchange between Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali that preceded one of cricket’s biggest about-turns in recent memory. When Stokes and McCullum pick up the ‘BazPhone’ to court you, it must be hard to say no. But that is exactly what Moeen did last winter when he was asked if he fancied a piece of England’s historic return to play Test cricket in Pakistan, the country of his birth, after 17 long years.
You can see why McCullum and Stokes wanted to ask the question. Moeen’s style and personality are seemingly a perfect fit for the freewheeling cricket they espouse. But the all-rounder was unequivocal.
“Sorry I’m done… It’s time to close the door on that side of my career,” came the response.
Six months later, Jack Leach suffers a stress fracture of the lower-back during the Ireland Test and Stokes has another go. This time successfully. After conversations with McCullum, Key and the captain, Moeen declares himself willing to slip into the whites once more. What changed?
Well, it’s the Ashes, stupid. Moeen may have two World Cup wins and a brace of IPL titles – as well as an Ashes win in 2015 – but he has unfinished business with Australia. A bruising tour in 2017/18 followed by a one-Test damp squib at Edgbaston in 2019 meant that he couldn’t resist one last tilt at the big one.
Moeen Ali was drawn in by the lure of the Ashes
The Ashes still have a hold. A mystic allure that seeps into a player ’s pores and an intensity that bores into their psyche. It doesn’t wane or relent. It’s the same for those experiencing their first taste as those who have been round the Ashes block a few times already. “A sense of dread crept over me, I couldn’t face the thought of going through it all again,” wrote Jonathan Trott unsparingly about the scrutiny and pressure he felt ahead of the Oval Ashes Test in 2013. England had already won the series but that was of little comfort. He writes in his autobiography Unguarded of contemplating “all those people, all those cameras, all that expectation and scrutiny… I was so exhausted by the mental struggle.”