‘Rude’ Australia only team I disliked: Moeen Ali

LONDON: England all-rounder Moeen Ali has called the recent Australia team “rude” and that they are the only one he has “disliked” following the 2017-18 Ashes series and a previous tour three years ago.

Shortly after the Ashes, which Australia won 4-0, they were sent into crisis by the ball-tampering saga in South Africa which led to 12-month bans for Steven Smith and David Warner and a nine-month ban for Cameron Bancroft.

Cricket Australia commissioned a review into the culture around the team while much criticism was levelled on them, both for what happened at Newlands and also the environment that built up beforehand.

“Everyone you speak to . . . they are the only team I’ve played against my whole life that I’ve actually disliked,” Moeen told the Times in an interview with Mike Atherton. “Not because it’s Australia and they are the old enemy but because of the way they carry on and [their] disrespect of people and players.”

“The first game I played against them, in Sydney just before the 2015 World Cup, they were not just going hard at you, they were almost abusing you. That was the first time it hit me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt but the more I played against them they were just as bad, the Ashes here [in 2015] they were worse actually. Not intimidating, just rude. Individually they are fine and the Aussies we’ve had at Worcester have been fantastic, lovely guys.”

Asked about the subsequent events in South Africa, Moeen said: “I’m someone who generally feels sorry for people when things go wrong but it’s difficult to feel sorry for them. This ODI series they were very good actually; they’d been…humbled.”

Moeen endured a poor Ashes series in Australia and was eventually dropped for the final Test against New Zealand in March and has since conceded he should have been left out before that. He returned against India at the Ageas Bowl last month with a match-winning nine-wicket haul to seal the series.

Australia’s one-day series against England earlier this year was their first outing since the ball-tampering scandal and a new-look side lost 5-0. They will shortly play their first Test cricket since South Africa when they take on Pakistan in the UAE next month. The Test squad includes a number of new and recalled faces in the absence of Smith, Warner and Bancroft alongside injuries to pacemen Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.