'The Ashes is huge' - Fried chicken and vibes herald Moeen Ali's return
"Stokesy messaged me with a question," said Moeen Ali. "'Ashes?'"
"I hadn't heard the news on Leachy [Jack Leach] at the time. So I just said 'LOL', thinking he's taking the mick."
Just a couple of things to unpack there. A 35-year-old man using "lol" is one of them, even if that's more common than you'd think. Not hearing about the injury to the sole Bazball spinner until England's Test captain sent the kind of "you up? x" text English cricketers dream of receiving - very much another.
The following day Moeen was at The Grove Hotel as part of a PCA Team England Golf Day. It was known that an approach had been made and he had been given time to mull it over. But until official confirmation arrived on Wednesday morning, the strongest hint he was up for donning the whites again was a covert photo taken by someone at the hotel which had started to gain traction on TikTok.
It shows Moeen, wearing a Liverpool shirt, flanked by Adil Rashid, in an amiable discussion with Stokes and managing director of men's cricket Rob Key. In the middle of them is a bag from Sam's Chicken.
"That was me and Rash," Moeen confirmed on the bag of fried goodies. "We were hungry and got there a bit late."
A laissez-faire approach to the seriousness of Test cricket, an appreciation of fried chicken such as that England had showcased last year on an early morning jaunt to Nottingham's Mega Munch after beating New Zealand at Trent Bridge. Moeen was always going to fit in, wasn't he?
As he joined his team-mates for his first red-ball training session since September 2021, ahead of the most hotly anticipated home Ashes series since 2005, the vibes could not have been more immaculate. Whether that instils you with confidence is another thing altogether. If sport - ergo, cricket - is the most important of the least-important things, a five-match Test series against Australia is the most least-important. Vibes may only carry you so far, even if they've carried this team to 11 wins out of 13.
The sun shone brightly enough on Tuesday to make the Australians feel at home, who were glad for the morning session at Edgbaston when an emergency alarm triggered an evacuation of the stadium. No harm for the tourists, who simply spent their remaining allotted time on the outfield and the adjoining outdoor nets.
In the end, it barely impacted on England, who were out as scheduled for the second half of the day. A team huddle began with a round of applause for Moeen's return before Brendon McCullum said a few words. From there, they broke into separate packs.
For the first time at an open practice session this summer, Stokes bowled at full pelt. He began with walkthroughs out in the middle before pacing out his full run-up with measuring tape to send down about two-overs-worth of deliveries. He was joined partway by Moeen, who sent down about as many under the watchful eye of spin coach - and one-time Warwickshire offspinner - Jeetan Patel.
As it happens, the last time Moeen bowled with a red Dukes ball was the day Stokes messaged him. The Birmingham Bears skipper was training at Edgbaston ahead of Vitality Blast fixtures against Northants and Derbyshire. "I saw a red ball and had a few balls," he said. "But not properly."
Among the reasons to fear Moeen's retirement U-turn might not work out, beyond justified trepidation about his readiness having not played a first-class match since the last of 64 Test caps in September 2021, is the robustness of his spinning finger.
Having torn it open in the 2017 summer, he battled through the 2017-18 Ashes, taking just five wickets across as many Tests, at an eye-watering average of 115. It re-emerged as an issue during the first 2019 Ashes Test, at Edgbaston no less. Following match figures of 3 for 137, he sat out the rest of the summer.
Time away, perhaps, has helped. Even if the workload of a white-ball spinner is fairly limited, the allrounder has not bowled all that much. He sent down just two overs in England's successful T20 World Cup campaign in October, and 26 from 15 matches for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. There have since been 11 overs across three innings for the Bears.
The problem, however, is the prouder seam on the red Dukes ball, which could literally and figuratively reopen a wound. Moeen, however, does not seem concerned.
"It's all right, actually," Moeen said of his right index finger. "Obviously, I haven't bowled much with the red ball but it seems to be okay. We'll see after I've bowled about 15 overs.
"I've not thought about that too much. Depends on the pressure going into the games, the hardness of the ball, and all that sort of stuff. I should be fine."
While the squad picked is for the next two Tests, Moeen is also of the mind this his lot until the end of July.
"If you're in you're in. Baz did say look, even after two games, if you've done well and you're enjoying it - that's fine. He's obviously convinced that I will enjoy it - that's the plan."
As for the Test tour of India at the start of 2024, that, he says, is too far - though adding "I don't think I will, really" throws his place in this group into stark focus. This is far from succession planning. But as part of a team that are looking to live in the moment, Moeen, as of last week, has become their latest totem.
He had an offer from the United States to take part in this summer's Major League Cricket, though was not going to go as it would mean reneging on his ECB contract, as Jason Roy has done. With the ODI World Cup in October, the vice-captain is staying put. For now, at least. When asked about 2024's MLC, he offered an open-ended, "We'll see".
Moeen is not due to be at training on Wednesday and instead - with McCullum's blessing - will be at Windsor Castle to pick up the OBE awarded to him last year. His focus, however, remains on the next five weeks.
Though his recent memories of playing against Australia are not that great, his first series in 2015 is one that those who were there and those who were not are looking to replicate. It was the last time England claimed the urn.
Should he replicate that form of eight years ago, with 12 dismissals and 293 runs with the bat - surpassing 200 and 3000 across his Test career in the process - all this would have been worthwhile. Indeed, it is what drew him out of his Test exile.
"It's one of those Ashes that no one really remembers for some reasons," he said of the 2015 series, which England won 3-2. "But it was one of my highlights of my career for sure, right up there with the World Cups.
"Because the Ashes is not easy, as we know. And there's been many players, past players who played a lot of games and never won an Ashes series. So to have that is amazing.
"But I'm keen to have number two. The Ashes is huge."