Moeen Ali is blogging exclusively for ecb.co.uk this summer. Below he previews the third Investec Ashes Test in his home city of Birmingham, examines the importance of the Chance to Shine project, and looks back on a welcome break from the intensity of the Test arena.
Coming back to Edgbaston is always a special feeling for me, but when I first came here as a nine-year-old for trials with the under-11s, how could I imagine that I'd be back here to play for England in an Ashes Test?
That trial was in the old indoor school, which shows how long ago it was. The place has changed a bit since then, it's a really fantastic stadium now, and as a Birmingham boy I can tell you that people here are buzzing about having an England-Australia Test back in the city.
I can't believe it's 10 years since that famous game when England won with the catch down the leg side. I was playing under-19s cricket that summer so it was definitely a long time ago, and still with Warwickshire before I joined Worcestershire the following season.
There was no game at Edgbaston in the 2013 Ashes series, and there hasn't been a Test here at all for the last three summers. So this is a special week for everyone who loves cricket in the city - you can imagine how it feels for me being able to play in it.
I'm going to have a lot of family and relatives and stuff, because they have all been looking forward to this match too. I've talked in the past about the importance of the support of my family, especially my father and brothers, in helping me get to this point in my career.
England have been good as well, letting me mix things up and spend some time at home with my family rather than all the time in the hotel.
I've been thinking a bit about the journey I've taken to get to this point. Last Wednesday I went back to Sparkhill Park, where I did a lot of messing about as a kid, for a Chance to Shine event.
It's always a pleasure to support Chance to Shine because it's so important for English cricket to work hard to get people in the cities without loads of money to get hooked on the game, like I did. As I said to the journalists who were there that day in the rain, I think cricket can be a good influence on young people from backgrounds like mine. It teaches you discipline, and to be streetwise.
The gap between Tests gave me the chance to do things like that.
To be honest we needed the break after Lord's. You generally do after back-to-back Tests, because they do take their toll mentally more than anything, and especially after the way we played at Lord's.
We've had time to get over that now, the mood in practice at Edgbaston was fine, the boys are good - we've all had a break from each other, and it was good to come back together and talk about getting things right again.
It's not hard to be positive going into the game. We showed what we can do by beating them convincingly in the first game down in Cardiff, so even after what happened at Lord's it's all square and like a best of three Test series now.
I had one more reminder of my youth before practice on Monday morning, when I went out to Malvern School to make some presentations to the young lads who have been picked for this year's Bunbury Festival.
It's 13 years now since I was a young lad like them in Billericay in Essex, feeling the excitement I could see on all their faces. Most of the England squad played in the festival at one time or another - I think Adil Rashid was there with me, and now here we are together again in the England squad.
Like I said to the guys at Sparkhill Park, it shows that you can achieve your dreams. Who'd have thought a Birmingham boy like me could be at Edgbaston on Wednesday morning, determined with the rest of the team to come back against the Aussies?
Source: Moeen: Achieving your dreams
No comments:
Post a Comment