Moeen Ali plays down controversial stumping and remains upbeat about England’s Ashes chances

   
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Tom Collomosse26 November 2017

Moeen Ali played down the controversial dismissal that leaves England facing Ashes defeat but urged his team not to fear Australia.

Australia look certain to take a 1-0 lead in the series after they dominated day four here. They will resume 114 without loss on Monday, needing only 56 runs for victory with 10 wickets still standing.

Moeen was given out stumped for 40 – an extremely tight call. TV umpire Chris Gaffaney ruled that the England all-rounder did not have any part of his foot behind the popping crease, but Gaffaney may have been deceived by some shoddy paintwork from the Gabba ground staff.

The popping crease should be represented by a straight white line but on closer examination, the line was thicker than it should have been at precisely the place where Moeen left his back foot.

Yet rather than focus on the incident, Moeen tried to talk up England’s chances ahead of the day/night Test at Adelaide, which starts on Saturday.

He said: “Australia are a good side but probably not as good as we sometimes make out. We know we can compete and we are going to have to compete very well over the next four games.

“As for the stumping, if I’d been bowling I’d have wanted the batsman to be given out. It depends what angle you look at it from. You have to respect the umpire’s call and move on. I felt I was OK, but the replay looked tight. I was disappointed I got out in that fashion.

“I was more disappointed with the time I got out because Jonny (Bairstow) and I were building a good partnership.

England's tail collapsed after Moeen Ali's stumping
Getty Images

“We are very disappointed. Over the first three days we played well but today we let ourselves down, especially with the bat. A few players got in but never really got the big score we needed.”

Moeen was also struggling with a cut to his spinning finger but he said he had felt better on day four than on day three.

It is still, however, a concern for England, with only four days’ break betwen the end of this Test and the start of the Adelaide one.

Moeen added: “It happened after 15 overs. I ripped my spinning finger and it’s not been easy since then. Today it felt better but I didn’t bowl well. I was with the physio, we had to glue it and file it to try to keep it hard. It’s not been easy. But I felt OK today; I just didn’t bowl well.”

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