‘Attack is best option against Moeen’

Having perished against England off-spinner Moeen Ali three times in his four innings during the current Ashes Test cricket series, Australian opening batsman David Warner on Thursday conceded it might be time to throttle back on preconceived plans to <g data-gr-id="25">belt</g> the tweaker out of the attack at first sight.

Warner said the tactic to put pressure on the spinner -- denying him a chance to settle into a rhythm, putting pressure on his captain to remove him from the attack and, therefore, upping the workload on the seamers -- had been a valid plan against Moeen’s predecessor Graeme Swann in the previous series.

“When we talk about Graeme Swann, fantastic bowler. I think the difference with Swanny was he was very consistent and always in the same areas. It was hard for you to score as a batsman, so you had to try and change the patterns,” Warner was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia (CA) website.

“With Moeen, I don’t think we really have to go as hard against him. No disrespect to Moeen, but you will get that bad ball whereas Swanny was relentless and you never really got that bad ball, especially as a left-hander,” the left-hander added.

England won the first Test at <g data-gr-id="19">Cardiff</g> but Australia bounced back to win the second Test at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. The five-match series is level at 1-1 at present. The third Test begins in Birmingham at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on July 29.