Moeen Ali reaches 3,000 runs and 200 wickets Test landmark
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Moeen Ali reached the Test all-rounder’s benchmark of 3,000 runs and 200 wickets as he batted against Australia at Old Trafford.
The England spinner, promoted to number three in the batting order for the fourth Ashes Test, flashed a Pat Cummins delivery wide of gully to reach 24 for his innings and 3,000 runs in the format before immediately celebrating with a more authentic boundary through the covers.
He is the 16th player and the fourth Englishman to reach both landmarks and we take a look at that select group.
Awesome foursome
Moeen brought up 200 wickets with the scalp of Steve Smith in Australia’s second innings of the third Test at Headingley.
With Ollie Pope out injured, he put his hand up to bat at three in England’s chase in Leeds and would have had hopes of making the 28 runs he needed to tick off both marks in one match.
Just five were forthcoming but he took his opportunity on the second morning in Manchester.
Moeen’s five centuries include a best of 155 not out against Sri Lanka in 2016, while he also has five five-wicket hauls, his best figures being six for 53 against South Africa in 2017.
He joins team-mate Stuart Broad and past greats Sir Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff in the 3,000/200 club.
Broad had his own moment in the spotlight on day one of the fourth Test with his 600th wicket, just the fifth man ever to achieve that feat, which he paired with his 3,640 runs at 18.10 in his 165 Tests prior to this, with a best of 169 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010.
Botham amassed 5,200 runs at 33.54, with 14 centuries and a best of 208, adding 383 wickets at 28.40 to stake a firm claim as statistically England’s greatest all-rounder – he is also the only one of the quartet to have a higher average batting than bowling.
Flintoff reached 3,845 runs and 226 wickets, in only 79 Tests compared to Botham’s 102. Moeen has taken 67 games to reach 3,000 and 200.
Captain Ben Stokes has over 6,000 runs under his belt and could add his name to the list this series, if his troublesome knee allows him to add the three wickets he still needs.
Sweet 16
England have more representatives than any other nation in the group of elite all-rounders, after Moeen broke the previous tie with New Zealand.
The Black Caps have three names on the list in Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori.
South Africa and India have two apiece – Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis for the former and Kapil Dev and Ravichandran Ashwin for the latter, with five other countries having one each.
West Indies great Sir Garry Sobers was the first to achieve the feat, with Imran Khan following as Pakistan’s only representative – Wasim Akram came up 102 runs short.
Australia spinner Shane Warne, Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas and Bangladesh’s former captain Shakib al Hasan complete the list.
Kallis has by far the most runs of the 16 players with 13,289, over 5,000 clear of Sobers (8,032), with Dev and Botham the only others over 5,000.
Warne, with 708, comfortably tops Broad as the leading wicket-taker, with Ashwin next on 486.
