Moeen and Rashid
Moeen and Rashid

Spin twins Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali key to England CT hopes


Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali may well between them hold one of the keys to England's chances of winning their maiden 50-over global title in the Champions Trophy.

Two of the hosts' three Group A fixtures will take place at venues known on occasion to favour spin - although Eoin Morgan has been reluctant in the past to deploy both his protagonists at Cardiff, where the short straight boundary at the River Taff end makes it a precarious tactic.

Memories of England's last Champions Trophy campaign still centre, meanwhile, on Edgbaston - where they will face Australia this time and four years ago collapsed in the final from a winning position against India on a dry surface which made things tough against the touring attack.

The conjecture for 2017 is that fresh pitches will be available throughout, but no-one knows how dry a month June may be - and if the sun shines, England's spin chums will be bang in the game.

Moeen and Rashid, both English-born Muslims, have plenty in common - having each also grown up in big-city surroundings of Birmingham and Bradford respectively.

It is perhaps unsurprising then that, since their England careers took off, they often seem to seek out one another's company and are regularly seen together on tour.

The partnership goes onto the pitch too, and Rashid freely admits he missed Moeen's match presence when England left the off-spinning all-rounder out of their team for two early-season one-day international victories over Ireland.

Moeen, a few months older than his friend and team-mate, will be 30 on June 18 - the day of the Champions Trophy final at The Oval.

That is no bad omen, of course, for anyone who likes that sort of thing. But to get to The Oval on that mid-summer weekend, Moeen and Rashid will have to do much more than rely on fate.

It is easy to portray the pair as mentor and protege, Moeen in the elder role, and much of what they say supports the theory.

Rashid, for example, believes he has achieved a gradual maturity over the years to go with his evident improvement in white-ball cricket of late.

"It's taken time (to get to that point) - more so the last five or six years," the Yorkshire leg-spinner said. "You want to perform, but it's not the end of the world if you don't."

Asked if he is ready to be a match-winner this summer, he said: "There's no point beating yourself up about it too much, putting too many expectations on yourself.

"That's extra pressure you don't need."

Moeen's take on the same topic contains an affectionate aside at Rashid's expense, but is reassuring too.

"He's definitely matured since he was 11..." he said. "He's still not the brightest!

"(But) he has matured a lot, even over the last year and a half or two years."

The same progression, Moeen believes, is true of himself.

He has had to fill many roles across the formats for England, many of which have not come naturally as he has been shunted up and down the batting order.

But he said: "I feel, even though it's difficult, it's making me a better player all the time.

"I hope I'm going into my peak years, and it's making me better - because I've been in situations not many openers or top three have been in, batting with the tail.

"With the ball as well, I feel like I'm getting better. I'm much more comfortable as a cricketer than I was three years ago."

For the next month at least, he and Rashid know their likely roles - and Moeen acknowledges his is most likely to support others, such as England's fastest bowler Mark Wood.

"We all know Rash and Woody would be our X-factor bowlers," he said.

"Morgy allows them to do that. He'll expect from me to try to bowl tight, maybe pick up a couple of wickets here or there - but with him (Rashid) it's, 'Just try all your skills, variations'."

Rashid has been a revelation at times doing just that over the past two years, but he insists he is one of many capable of turning a match England's way.

"If you look at one to 11, all our players are match-winners - every single one of them," he said.

"Just by being allowed to take that positive option, the backing of the captain and coaches (means) we can express ourselves and play how we want to play.

"That's how we get the 400s, 430s, 390s... people not being scared of failing."

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