Moeen Ali believes former England coach Chris Silverwood will want to 'prove a point' when his Sri Lanka side come up against the defending champions; Watch England vs Sri Lanka live on Sky Sports Cricket with coverage from 9am ahead of the first ball at 9.30am
Thursday 26 October 2023 09:11, UK
England's all-rounder Moeen Ali admits the team has not been good enough and may need to revert to their 'Bazball' philosophy to regain confidence and play in their trademark aggressive style.
England fell to their third loss in four matches after suffering a record 229-run defeat to South Africa in Mumbai on Sunday, which left their hopes for qualifying for the semi-finals in disarray.
England now have to win all five of their upcoming games, including fixtures against unbeaten India and returning-to-form Australia, but first come up against Sri Lanka, who have also been struggling in the World Cup with only one win from five games.
"The thing is, Bazball is in Test cricket. One day cricket's different and we've been playing different all the time," said Moeen.
"We've been playing aggressive cricket throughout since 2015 and done it quite well, but we haven't been playing in that way in my opinion.
"We know what we need to do and we're going to have to play really well from now. We've tried to adapt to different conditions and different teams but it doesn't suit us and I can see us going back to all-rounders batting deep in the team.
"We've tried a few things and probably tried too much but it comes down to our batters scoring runs, bowlers taking wickets and fielding well. I think we've prepared well but it's just not happened for us.
"We're low on confidence and that's what we need to get back. We need to go harder without being reckless."
England were bowled out for 170 during their clash against South Africa with no player from the defending champions side scoring a half-century.
England are on par with Sri Lanka on points but currently sit behind them in ninth place because of net run-rate. The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
"We're obviously disappointed from the result and not just the result, but the way we played. But in the competition you've got to move on as quick as you can and regroup," Moeen added.
"Everything is a must-win and we know we've been in this position before, probably not to this degree, but we have to get our confidence and perform well and bat and bowl and field better than we have done so far in this tournament."
England's central contracts for 2023-24 were handed out on Tuesday, with a new structure seeing 18 players awarded multi-year deals and eight, including Moeen, accepting a one-year offer.
"The central contracts haven't been a distraction. Every individual is different but I don't think it's affected anyone. I got offered a one-year deal and I signed it. I'm grateful and fortunate to sign a contract and I'm 36 so one year makes sense," Moeen said.
Moeen also believes former England coach Chris Silverwood will want to "prove a point" when his Sri Lanka side come up against the defending champions.
Silverwood was England's fast bowling coach when they won lifted the World Cup trophy in 2019, but following the 2021/22 Ashes Test he was sacked.
Silverwood now faces a challenge where both Sri Lanka and England need to win on Thursday if they want to keep their hopes for the semi-finals alive.
"I'm sure he's got that motivation to do well in this game, definitely," said Moeen.
"They've only won once, so they'll want to get on a winning run as well and he'll be thinking more about that and his own team.
"But I'm sure deep down, like everybody else, he'll be trying to prove a point or whatever it is and that will motivate him a little bit more.
"He's a good coach and a nice guy, and I enjoyed [working with] him. But he's not the one going out to bat and bowl, it's his team. He'll be trying to get them ready."
Moeen did not feature in England's much-changed side for their clash with the Proteas, favouring six batters and five specialist bowlers over their all-rounders.
"It's been very frustrating, obviously, because you want to play and make some sort of difference," Moeen said.
"It's difficult when you're not winning and then when you're not playing on top of that, it's hard. I'm hoping to play and get a chance to perform.
"It's one of those grounds where scoring is quick and batting deep makes a big difference. If I get the nod, then I'm really looking forward to playing. I've played franchise cricket here and it's a great place to play, a great venue. I'm be pretty excited."
Recce Topley's injury replacement, Brydon Carse, has arrived in the country and trained for the first time on Wednesday afternoon.
England take on South Africa on Thursday, October 26 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore with coverage from 9.00am ahead of the first ball at 9.30am, live on Sky Sports Cricket.
