Moeen Ali feels the pain, but should the finger be pointed at England?
Moeen Ali can't have had many worse birthdays than this one.
Turning 36 is bad enough, what with officially being in your "late thirties". It began pleasantly enough as the England team presented him with a card before the start of day three of this first Ashes Test. Unfortunately, he was also presented with a 25% fine of his match fee by the ICC for spraying a drying agent on his bowling hand.
The incident took just before Moeen bowled a two-over spell through to stumps on day two. He crouches by the boundary, picks up the canister and sprays away, oblivious that he is doing anything wrong. Sky Sports' cameras picked up the whole thing.
On Sunday, the need for the drying agent was crystal clear. Moeen's right hand was in the lens once more, with photographs showing the tip of his spinning index finger blistered red-raw.
It is said to be sore to touch, which is exactly as it looks. One can only imagine how painful it is gripping a proud Dukes seam and giving it a rip, in every sense. It was clearly a problem as Saturday wore on, with a few small spells off the field. You could track the decline in effect and confidence as the ball moved further into his hand as the Australian innings wore on.
There were two full tosses to Pat Cummins in his final nine deliveries on day three. The only reason both were not carted into the stands was the Australia captain's suspicion when presented with the first. Such were Ben Stokes' tactics at the time - packing the leg side, packing the off side, then going with an umbrella field, often in the same over - Cummins had every right to think such an amateurish delivery might have been deliberate. It wasn't.
Moeen's 33 overs across these two days are the joint-sixth-most he has bowled in an innings. Only once have there been more in a home Test; 36 in the first innings against Australia at Lord's in 2015.
It is worth noting that was Moeen's 13th of what is now 57 caps. Early enough in his career for the spinning digit to be in sound health, and no doubt primed by the regular first-class cricket he was playing at the time. The issue with the finger emerged two years later, tearing open in the opening match of the 2017-18 Ashes. He played through, eventually leaving the tour with five wickets in as many games, a series average of 115 and an issue to manage for the rest of his career.
There was a flare-up in the 2019 Ashes opener too, at this ground, which ultimately led to him being axed for the rest of the series. And the unfortunate symmetry here may be that he has to miss the Lord's Test - beginning June 28 - to give it time to heal over. And thus England, having brought Moeen out of retirement to cover for losing Jack Leach to a stress fracture, will return to square one.
Even Moeen could see this coming. While he was typically phlegmatic about his finger's readiness for the grind during media duties on Monday, the fact his last red-ball work of any note was a Test in September 2021 meant its robustness was unknown.
The white-ball overs, the practice sessions in the IPL, these were posited as reasons it might be okay. In answer to the queries, he rounded off with a prophetic: "We'll see after I've bowled about 15 overs." Well, now we know, and we can all see.
It's hard to blame Moeen in all this. He was happy with his white-ball lot, and who could begrudge anyone for accepting a golden ticket to such a high-profile series, under new management that perfectly suits their qualities and personality? You'd shake someone if they said no to that. There are, however, questions to be asked of the management.
The pros to his selection were understandable to a point, and the prodigious turn shown - particularly the delivery that bowled Cameron Green, proved some of them were not out of date. But was the state of the finger discussed? And moreover - was it then wise to give him 29 overs on his first day in the field for two years?
The figures, all told, are not dreadful, particularly when viewed through Brendon McCullum's thick black lenses. Runs conceded - 147 - are way down on a list of priorities, and with the dismissals of Green and Travis Head, England will argue Moeen has done exactly what has been asked of him. Had Green or Alex Carey gone earlier, with Jonny Bairstow missing both chances - a different conversation we simply do not have time for right now - Australia would have been dismissed sooner and Moeen wouldn't have had to bowl as much as he did.
The full-tosses will be explained as "one of those things". The eight sixes conceded (the most by a bowler in a single Ashes innings) simply the accepted by-product of giving the ball flight to entice attacking shots. Even Ollie Robinson seemed unperturbed by the finger at stumps: "As far as I'm aware, it's fine." It's not, obviously.
The selection of Moeen, like the Test itself, is fascinatingly poised. He has a chance to offer crucial runs to get England a big enough lead on Monday before getting the ball back in his hands for what needs to be a vital contribution in the fourth innings.
Over the last year, this Test group have had a knack for getting marginal calls right. And while the selection of Moeen has not backfired just yet given the current state of play, we are not far away from being able to say so one way or another.