Moeen Ali’s shock Ashes return reflects lack of back-up for front-foot England

If ever there was a team that was high on its own supply of uber-positive, cupsole trainer vibes, it is the England men’s Test team right now. And if ever there was a selection that embodied this mainlining of the Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum way, it is probably Moeen Ali’s return just nine days out from the start of the Ashes.

On the face of it, this makes no sense. Moeen turns 36 on Sunday week, has been nearly two years retired from Test cricket, has not even touched a red ball since, and averages 25 with the bat and 65 with the ball against Australia.

He is a wonderfully eye-catching match-winner on his day but the wheels can come off just as spectacularly. His last Ashes Test in 2019, even factoring in the ruinous effects of losing Jimmy Anderson just four overs in, was very much the latter and the hold Nathan Lyon had over him with the ball by the end was inarguable.

However, to state these cold, hard facts is to slightly miss the point of what this England team are doing these days: what they keep telling us, which some at the back are clearly not hearing. Stokes and McCullum see only the upside these days and the narrative arc of a return of Moeen, entering the fray like Omar Little walking out into low-rises, is right up their strasse.

They talk of fun and entertainment not results and after poor Jack Leach suffered his latest encounter with a black cat, they have turned to a cricketer who has always been about glorious possibility, not guaranteed returns.

If there is one criticism here, it is that a two-day will-he-won’t-he drama that followed Sunday evening’s urgent WhatsApp messages to Moeen could have been avoided. Though the only ever-present in the attack under Stokes and McCullum, and victim of an