Captain Joe Root praises Moeen Ali for his hat-trick

England all-rounder Moeen Ali is the man of the hour after he claimed a hat-trick against South Africa on the fifth day of the third Test at The Oval, which the hosts won by a comprehensive margin. All-rounder Ben Stokes took two brilliant slip catches off Ali’s bowling, that helped the latter complete his dream hat-trick, which was also the first by an England spinner since Tom Goddard in 1938-39.

The off-spinner’s first wicket was the big fish Dean Elgar, the lone resistance in the second innings who scored a valiant 139 was caught at slip by Stokes. The next wicket was of Kagiso Rabada who was sent back in the same fashion as Elgar – caught by Stokes at slip. To get the hat-trick and match concluding wicket of Morne Morkel, Ali had to take the referral and ball tracking displayed it was hitting him plumb in front.

England captain Joe Root was full of praises for the spinner, saying that he proved his mettle of a surface that didn’t offer much spin. “The impact he made today on a wicket which wasn’t offering a lot of spin showed great skill and nous,” said Root.

Ali, on the other hand, credited a part of his success to Pakistani spin great Saqlain Mushtaq who is the spin bowling consultant of the English team. “I’ve scored a few hat-tricks in football but this is a different sort of feeling, a better sort of feeling,” Moeen said. “I have been working with Saqlain Mushtaq and he is helping me quite a lot with my spin. It’s coming out alright. We talk a lot and I’ve bowled a lot more now than I used to in terms of practice. He’s pushing me,” he added.

Root one match away to first win as captain 

The fourth Test will be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester, and if England wins it, captain Root will be the happiest man, since this is his first assignment at the helm of the team and the Brits haven’t defeated South Africa at home since 1998.