England Test team skipper Alastair Cook has hinted that Moeen Ali would open the batting alongside him during England’s Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates next month.
Moeen and Hales are competing for the vacancy created by Adam Lyth’s failure to cement the role during the Ashes, in which he scored 115 runs at 12.77 in the course of the five-Test series.
Ali, who has been picked primarily as a spinner throughout the summer, is being considered for a promotion on the slower surfaces of the UAE, partly in order to make extra room to include an extra slow bowler.
“We might have to do a short-term option; it might be that Mo opens the batting in this series and doesn’t open in South Africa, or Alex takes his chance in the warm-up game and we go with that balance of the side.
“We have options, we’ve got to be pretty clear early on in the tour what we’re going to do. We have got our ideas but we haven’t chatted with the lads.”
Moeen, who has batted at No. 8 since the Lord’s Test against New Zealand in May, admitted he would love the chance to open alongside Cook, a role he has performed with some success in one-day cricket.
