England's Moeen rejoices success as bowler

DHAKA - Off-spinner Moeen Ali said he has become more mature as a bowler these days after the second five-wicket haul of his career helped England dismiss Bangladesh for 220 runs and gain the edge in the second Test in Dhaka on Friday.

England were looking for someone to bail them out when Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal hit a fluent century and threatened to put them under heaps of runs with his confident batting.

Moeen responded by dismissing Tamim for 104 and then bowling out his partner in 170-run second wicket stand Mominul Haque for 66 to trigger a dramatic Bangladesh collapse. He finished with 5-57 as Bangladesh lost their last nine wickets for 49 runs with seven of their batsmen failing to make double figure.

"I don't really have that much success as a spinner but I think the pace (in which) I bowl is used to test quality batters, that helps," he said. "I'm trying to get more consistent...I'm nowhere near where I want to be as a spinner but I feel the 30 games helped me a little bit," he said.

Ali, whose only previous five-wicket haul in 33 Tests came against India, said he owed his success to his five maiden overs in his third spell after the lunch break, which built some pressure on Bangladeshi batsmen. "I'm obviously happy to get the five wickets but I was more happy that I bowled a few maidens which I don't normally do often," he said. "I tried to bowl as tight as I could today in my third spell and I think today that paid off really well."

Moeen said they planned at the lunch break to keep it tight and not lose their patience, which finally brought them success.

Tamim hit him for two back-to-back fours to complete his century but Ali insisted it could not demoralise him. "I've been hit plenty of times, so I don't get too down," he said.

"I just try and bowl my next ball as best as I can. When they were 170-1 (after) lunch we spoke about showing some character and trying to bowl as tight as we can, to slow it down a little bit if we can. We always feel that if we can get a couple of wickets, then we can bowl them out," he said.

Moeen felt the game was left in the balance after Bangladesh managed to take three key England wickets in the evening session to leave the visitors at 50-3 at stumps on the first day.

England can wrestle ahead provided they can get a few good partnerships, said Moeen, who was unbeaten with two with the bat overnight. "It's 50-50 at the minutes. a couple of big partnerships and, if we can go close or go past their score, we're right in the game," he said.

 

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