England vs Pakistan: England ready to go with Moeen Ali as opener despite his day of toil

England made their bed weeks ago. When finally they come to lie in it next Tuesday, after a couple of failed experiments, they may find it deucedly uncomfortable.

It was all but officially confirmed last night that the tourists’ opening batsmen for the first Test match against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi next week will be Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali. Cook has opened the innings on 201 previous occasions in Tests, Moeen has never done so in a first-class match, let alone a Test.

He did nothing yesterday to suggest, even remotely, that he is suited to the task. In two innings in the second and more esoteric of England’s two practice matches, initially at No 1, later at No 11, Moeen made seven and 12. The tourists finished on 198 for 11.

If England seem to be set on this course – “Moeen has his nose in front,” said their coach, Trevor Bayliss – they may yet be prepared to unmake their bed in other regards. Bayliss said he could not confirm that Jos Buttler would be the side’s wicketkeeper next week, opening the way for Jonny Bairstow.

While Buttler is still likely to play, Bayliss’s lack of automatic endorsement indicates a level of concern about his shortage of runs. He needed two innings yesterday before he began to resemble a batsman of any pedigree. Bayliss was evidently relieved.

“Alastair and I will sit down in the next day or two so that people know the XI by the first practice session,” he said. “It’s probably not ideal if Mo opens. What I would like to see from English opening batters is someone to put their hand up and say ‘I’m the one for you’.

“We know there are some good players around but not one scoring five, six, seven hundreds in a season where you just say, ‘yeah, you’re the one, come and join us’. I think Mo has shown that he is a good player against spin, he can play pace, he has handled the pressure during the Ashes series. He may be the answer.”

But the truth for now is that Moeen’s first innings yesterday might have ended before it did, caught at second slip, pushing too hard at a ball outside off stump. Before that he had essayed an airy waft, utterly out of context with what might be required in the next month, and found an edge which fell short of the catching cordon. The second, designed purely to give him an opportunity to remember what occupying the crease is like, ended when he was lbw playing across his pads.

His first dismissal prompted the thought that if Alex Hales, a regular opener who opened with him yesterday against Pakistan A, went on to make runs then the selectors may yet have to reassess their options. But Hales was out of sorts, never settled and edged to first slip without making any sort of case.

Several of England’s number, like Moeen, had two goes. Ian Bell will be thankful to have spent some time in the middle, making a polished 53 before retiring at lunch. James Taylor, on 45, retired with him but resumed his innings later and also made a half century. Normally players retire out in these circumstances but it just shows whatever the laws, regulations or common practice, you can make up your own rules.

Moeen will be Cook’s sixth partner since the end of the latter’s long-term alliance of 117 innings with Andrew Strauss, who retired three years ago. The search for a replacement has now ceased to be scientific – analysts, what analysts? – and is now being conducted on the basis of a hunch.

Bayliss at least recognises this because it makes a nonsense of the opener as a specialist position. England will not be diverted from their plan now but Moeen will have to repay their faith quickly for it to be deemed worthwhile.