Moeen confident of countering Aussie threat

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England allrounder Moeen Ali is confident that he can contribute vital runs down the order in his team’s quest to retain the Ashes in Australia.

Moeen is expecting to face a barrage of short pitched bowling from the Aussie pacemen and has been working on his game in this area.

The allrounder has been in superb form in the last year and a half driving England’s home success.

He told a press conference after the West Indies ODI series: “It’s something I’ve been working on and I’m looking forward to it.

“I feel when you get in it’s a good place to bat. The ball doesn’t swing as much and hopefully whatever number I come in, I can express myself.

“I’m going to have to change a couple of things about the way I play but in terms of mindset I’ll just go and do what I normally do. The good thing is I’ve played against them before and I don’t want to speak too early or too confident but I’ll make sure I’m ready for it.

“Hopefully they’ll get tired doing it [bowling the bouncer]. But you get chances to score all the time with the short stuff and I’m going to work hard on that. I am very excited about it.”

ALSO READ: No ‘hope in hell’ to win Ashes without Stokes

After the events of last weekend England face the very real prospect of going to Australia without Ben Stokes which could see Moeen promoted up the order.

The aggressive left hander says that he is relishing the prospect of batting higher up the order in Test cricket.

He added:  “The higher up the better, I’d be very comfortable. Number eight, I’m kind of used to at the moment but if I get told to bat seven I feel capable of doing well there. Hopefully I can show that I can go out there and play against their bowlers and play well against them.”

Moeen will be taking a short break after the end of the English summer before setting to work preparing for the Ashes.

He said: “I think I’ll give myself two weeks to prepare and come back and get a bit fitter. Batting and bowling is going to be hard out there so I just want to get ready for those conditions and keep up the confidence I have at the moment.

“It’s something when you’re a young player you’re thinking you’d love to be on that tour. I never ever thought I would be on a tour like this and to be going, I’m very fortunate. Hopefully I can go out there and perform.”

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