Moeen Ali takes 'short break' from cricket after omission from second Ashes 2019 Test

England all-rounder Moeen Ali will take a short break from all forms of cricket following his omission from the England squad for the second Ashes Test. Moeen’s county Worcestershire announced the decision on the club’s website on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_7158701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Moeen Ali. Reuters[/caption] “Mo is spending a little time away from the middle recharging his batteries and putting in some quality practice time which he feels he needs, and we completely respect," Worcestershire first-team coach Alex Gidman said. “He has had an intense schedule of international cricket involving the ICC World Cup and the start of the Ashes. “Mo loves playing for Worcestershire and he gives a lift to everyone in the dressing room when he comes back and plays for us. “We saw at Trent Bridge (in the Blast) what he gives to us and we look forward to when he returns soon” Moeen had endured a tough time of late, especially with the bat with a series of low scores. Since 1 August 2018, he’s been the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. However, in the same period, he’s averaged just 15.10 with the bat from 19 innings. He had a below-par World Cup where he played just five matches, averaged 18.75 with the bat and 46 with the ball. The struggled continued with scores of 0 and 9 in the one-off Test against Ireland and it got worse when he managed just 4 runs from two innings, including a duck, against Australia in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. The pressure was mounting and amidst high expectations in the second innings, Moeen returned with figures of 2/130 and that hurt him even harder as he finished with figures of 3/172 in the Test. The selectors finally ran out of patience and dropped him for the Lord’s Test, replacing him with left-arm spinner Jack Leach.