Thursday, January 11th, 2018

Moeen Picks Up Two Wickets As England Defeat Cricket Australia X1

Moeen Ali made a return to form with the ball as England swapped from the Ashes to white ball mode in a five wicket win over a Cricket Australia X1 in Sydney.

The Worcestershire all-rounder and his team-mates are now gearing up for the five ODIs against Australia after losing the Test series 4-0.

Moeen came into the attack at the end of the 18th over and bowled his 10 overs straight through.

He ended with the excellent figures of 10-0-28-2 and his victims included Travis Dean – caught by skipper Eoin Morgan for a top-score of 62.

Jonathan Dalton (14) was also caught behind by Sam Billings off the spinner.

With fellow spinner Adil Rashid claiming 3-45, Cricket Australia were contained to 258-9 in their 50 overs.

England made light of their task thanks to Morgan who hit an unbeaten 81 as victory was achieved with 9.1 overs to spare.

Alex Hales (52), Jason Roy (40) and Jonny Bairstow (36) also made useful contributions for England.

But Moeen was dismissed for a single – caught behind batting at number six.