Trevor Bayliss' words and psychological tools key in turning Moeen Ali back into England's world-class all-rounder

Language and psychology are powerful tools. Both were key to Moeen Ali’s match-winning bowling performance against South Africa at Lord’s.

England had come into the first Test of the summer on the back of a morale-shattering 4-0 defeat in India last winter. Moeen, publicly backed as his country’s No 1 spinner in that series and outperformed convincingly by team-mate Adil Rashid, was affected more than most.

In the final Test against India in Chennai, Moeen scored a combined total of 190 runs with the bat but ended up conceding exactly the same amount with the ball for the return of just one wicket.

With more than six months between that abject innings defeat and the first Test of the English summer at Lord’s, coach Trevor Bayliss had time to think about how exactly to get the most out of Moeen, an all-rounder who had been handed the burden of being England’s premier spinner since coming into the team in 2014 following Graeme Swann’s retirement.

It turned out Liam Dawson, the left-arm spinner who performed relatively well on his Test debut in Chennai, was the answer.

Dawson was handed a holding role similar to the one Ashley Giles used to perform so diligently for England during his career. Importantly, the Hampshire man’s presence in the team for Lord’s signalled two things – he was now the team’s No 1 slow bowler and Moeen was picked ostensibly as a batsman. His place in the team would stand or fall on the amount of runs he scored.

Now, there is no doubt Moeen is England’s best spinner after his haul of ten for 112 at Lord’s. We knew that anyway, especially as he came into the match with 98 wickets in 37 Tests.

open image in gallery

However, the 30-year-old is a man who performs best with the ball when the pressure is off so Dawson’s presence and Bayliss’ explicit pronouncements that the new man is top dog when it comes to spinners was a neat psychological trick.

Bayliss continued the theme when asked about the make-up of England’s team for the second Test starting at Trent Bridge on Friday.

“We’ll stick with one spinner and one batter that bowls a little,” said the Australian. “And that’s important for Mo more than anything. He wants to be in the team as a batter that bowls a bit so we’ve selected him as a batter and the second spinner.

“It’s probably more so for Mo’s benefit, to take a little bit of that pressure off him. He does see himself as a batter No.1 and a spinner second.

“Mo is a bit of a complex character at times. I think this Test match was a sign that it’s probably the way to go with him.

open image in gallery

“I suppose that doesn’t mean he’s still not our best spinner but his No.1 job is to bat.

“I thought Dawson did a very good role. If it is tight at the other end, that allows Mo to attack.”

There were also encouraging words from Bayliss on Gary Ballance, who made scores of 20 and 34 after being recalled for his third shot at Test cricket.

The Yorkshire captain averages more than 100 in County Championship cricket this summer. And even if his return at Lord’s was hardly a continuation of that form, Ballance’s second-innings partnership of 59 with Alastair Cook on a tricky pitch was a valuable contribution to England’s victory.

“Gary had two starts I suppose on this wicket, but 30-odd on that type of wicket in difficult circumstances,” said Bayliss. “You can’t average 100 in county cricket without being able to play. I’m sure he would have liked to have scored more and hopefully that comes in the next few Test matches.”

As for Joe Root’s captaincy in his first match since succeeding Cook, Bayliss added: “Rooty and Cooky are different characters, they go about their batting in different ways. So invariably the way it was in the dressing-rooms was a little different. Obviously, a lot of the messages were very similar but in a little bit different language.

“We spoke about Joe being himself, getting the message across in his way. Don’t try to be something he’s not and, as I said, he’s a pro-active, confident sort of a young bloke and I thought that came across in the way he led the team in this match.”