WORCESTERSHIRE and England all-rounder Moeen Ali has spoken of his delight at achieving two personal milestones for his country in Test cricket.
The 30-year-old clocked up 2,000 runs and 100 wickets on the second day of the First Investec Test with South Africa at Lord’s, becoming the second quickest England player after former skipper Tony Greig – and the fifth fastest of all time – to reach those figures.
Former Worcestershire all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan achieved the two milestones in 31 Tests for Bangladesh, with Moeen clocking them up in 38 games.
“If somebody had told me when I started out that I would end up with these stats, then I would have bitten their hand off”, said Moeen.
“I’m especially pleased with my bowling stats. I never thought I would have 100 Test wickets, so it was a great feeling to do it on the same day at Lord’s”, he added.
Moeen reached 2,000 runs when on 73, at an average of more than 35 in 38 Tests, whilst claiming stand-in Proteas skipper Dean Elgar as his 100th Test wicket.
The all-rounder also produced career best figures for England in the 211 run win over South Africa, finishing with 6-53 from 15 overs as the Proteas were bowled out for 119 in just 36.4 overs.
It surpassed his 6-67 against India at the Ageas Bowl three years ago.
He ended with overall match figures of 35-11-112-10 – his first ten wicket haul at this level of the game.