Willing to Fight for My Place in England Test Team: Moeen Ali

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has said that he is willing to fight for a place in England’s Test team despite the emergence of Dom Bess and Jack Leach as front-line spin options.

Moeen had taken a break from Test cricket when he was dropped from the England side after the first Ashes Test last year and has since missed both away series to New Zealand and South Africa.

“I don’t want anyone to think I don’t love playing for England because playing for your country is the greatest thing a cricketer can do,” Moeen told Sky Sports after England’s final warm-up game in South Africa. “Even in the warm-up games here, I was thinking ‘I have missed this’, which is exactly the feeling I want.

“I didn’t feel as valued as much as I felt I should have been, and there were times when I thought I was going to quit playing Test matches, but I spoke to Rooty and he felt I was still a big part of this team.

“Ultimately it is about if I feel I am ready to play again. I don’t want people to feel I am picking and choosing. I know I have to make sure I am fresh and mentally ready to go out and perform.

“I know even if I decide to go to Sri Lanka I might not get in straight away but I am going to fight for my place. I thought (Dom) Bess bowled really well in South Africa but it was almost like, ‘yeah, I could to that, I can still do that’. The ECB has been really supportive of me. I want to come back a better player and be a part of the whole journey.”

Moeen further admitted that when he was dropped from the side he was feeling burnt out from years of being on the road and was glad to get the opportunity to step away from the sport for a bit.

“I had to get myself up for the Ashes and I remember bowling thinking, ‘I do not want to be here’. It is the worst possible place a cricketer can be. It definitely affected me. I can see when I look back that my body language was horrendous throughout the game.

“There was almost nothing happening for me. It was almost like there was no interest. It was such a big game and the harder I tried the worse I got. It was so bad.

“I was expecting not to play (the next Test at Lord’s) and I was actually hoping I was going to get dropped so I could take that opportunity to step away for a bit. Being on the road for four or five years, I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore’. For me to perform for England, I needed to take this break now.”

The 32-year old further admitted that negative comments across social media had also begun to take its toll on him, saying that he got ‘sucked in’ to caring what others thought of him.

“It becomes daunting, you are almost afraid to play any shot and you get caught in between. I have to be stronger personally, I know that. I can’t blame everyone. But it does show the noise can really affect you.

“Social media is one of the hardest things about playing for England. I’ve never really cared what people say about me but in the last year or so I started to read quite a bit and that really affected me. I got sucked in, I think a lot of players do.”

England’s next assignment is a three-day ODI series in South Africa followed by a T20I series consisting of the same number of matches.