Jacques Kallis or Ben Stokes? - Moeen Ali picks his best all-rounder in international cricket

Moeen Ali has been a regular feature in the England squad since his arrival in the national team. Being an all-rounder, he has just fitted rightly in the team helping the team to have a perfect balance. In recent questions and answer session with the readers of The Guardian, the English player was asked to choose between Jacques Kallis and Ben Stokes.

Moeen Ali said that it is tough to choose between Kallis and Stokes as far as the best all-rounder is concerned. He then pointed out that it is more likely that one would choose Kallis as he has way more runs, wickets and catches than Stokes. However, he also stated that Stokes will be one of the greatest players to have ever played the game if he continues to play the game.

‘It’s a tough one’: Moeen Ali

“It’s a tough one. You’d probably have to go, Kallis, as it stands because his body of work is so much bigger: more runs, wickets, catches etc. But if Stokesy carries on like he is he will become one of the greatest players to ever play the game. No doubt,” Ali added.

Stokes had a great 2019. Apart from guiding England to a world cup win by his fighting knock in the final, he has been some other level of form. During the Ashes 2019, he pulled off a win for the English team out of nowhere with a century in Headingley. He has been complete match-winner for them as far as winning matches with both ball and bat is concerned.

Moeen Ali himself has also been a pretty hand all-rounder for the England team. Ali has played 64 Tests, scoring 2782 runs and picking up 181 wickets. Since the retirement of Graeme Swann, Ali has been a true successor of the legend. In 102 ODIs, he has picked up 85 wickets and scored 1783 runs.

While talking about the toughest place to play as a touring player, Ali revealed that he has found Australia to be the toughest. According to Ali, the wickets in Australia is extremely good for batting, making it challenging to bowl. He also revealed that he found the toughest to bowl at the Newlands stadium in Cape Town.

“Australia is for me, personally, the hardest place to tour. The wickets are so good for batting, which made bowling hard, and mentally it was quite challenging. In terms of the ground, Newlands in Cape Town is pretty tough to bowl on as a spinner,” wrote Moeen.