Birmingham Bears' Moeen Ali keen to get going as he gears up for Rapids
Moeen Ali is never less than honest, so the one-word answer he uses to describe his first season back at Warwickshire comes as little surprise.
“Rubbish,” he replies. “I didn’t score many runs.”
Through four matches, he managed just 48 in a homecoming campaign abruptly halted by a surprise, impossible-to-turn-down England Test recall for the Ashes series.
Now back at Edgbaston from the T20 World Cup, Moeen concedes he has something to prove to Bears supporters, starting with tonight’s derby against Worcestershire Rapids, the county for whom he plundered so many runs in the fixture for so many years.
“It is going to be a bit weird,” admitted the all-rounder, who will face the Pears, the county with whom he spent 16 seasons, for the first time as an opposing player. “I still love Worcester and never really thought about playing against them.
“But when you step out on to the field, you have a job to do. My job on Friday is to beat them.”
For years, Moeen was regarded by Bears followers as the one which got away, a player of immense talent who moved from Edgbaston to New Road in 2006 due to lack of opportunities, who rarely missed a chance to remind his former county what they were missing.
His six List A matches against Warwickshire featured two centuries and one half-century, while he struck a venomous 115 from just 56 balls when the Pears triumphed in 2018’s T20 meeting.
Yet his much-heralded return to Warwickshire last year, on a white-ball only contract, proved something of an anti-climax. The Bears boasted a perfect record of four wins from four in the T20 Blast before Moeen arrived, fresh from the IPL, to captain the team. They lost three of the next four before England came calling and the chance to come out of Test retirement proved too tempting to turn down.
This year there is far less fanfare and coming into the campaign later, into a team which once more tops the North Group and is already virtually assured of a quarter-final place, should give Moeen more room to find his rhythm. This time he is not captaining.
“It is difficult when you are not here at the start and you don’t know how the guys are playing,” he says. “It is not easy. When the Ashes came along last year, it was difficult. It feels a bit better, coming into the back end of it now. I almost feel like an overseas player at times.
“It is a new county and last year I was still trying to find my feet. Ian Westwood and Tony Frost, who are both on the coaching staff, were the only two people left from the first time I was here. You always want to prove how good you are. I just need to get going a bit and then I feel I will be back on it.”
It is not only when assessing his Warwickshire career Moeen is honest. He is also realistic about what the future might hold for him at England level, following last month’s largely disappointing World Cup campaign which ended in a limp semi-final exit to India.
Now aged 37, Moeen believes he still has much more to give. With his central contract expiring later this year, he also knows it may not be his decision.
“I know where I am at as a player,” he said. “I know reality a bit more and the fact they might go in another direction, which is fine. It will be what it is.
“We will see what the future holds. I feel fine. I actually feel fitter than I have ever been. I feel I still have a lot more to give but if it finishes it doesn’t matter because I have been lucky enough to play for a long time.”
Tickets for tonight’s derby are available at edgbaston.com
