Moeen Ali: 5 highlights from an enterprising career

#3 87, 4/59 and 7, 6/53 vs South Africa in London, 2017

Coming from a three-format wipeout on their tour of India in 2016/17, especially a 4-0 drubbing in the five-match test series English hopes were gloomier than the skies over Lord's on the opening day of the first test of the 2017 season. Up against was a South African side, hurting from their previous year's humiliation at home by England in the four-match test series.

Ali, too, was under considerable pressure with underwhelming performances in both the departments. The stage was set for a perfect comeback. Walking out to bat at 5/190, and the trio of Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and big Morne Morkel piling on the pressure, Moeen curbed his attacking instincts and played second fiddle to Joe Root, who scored a magnificent 190. He put up 177 on the board with Root and thus drove England to safety. Ali persisted to accumulate 46 runs with Stuart Broad and got out at the Devil's fated score of 87.

In the first innings of South Africa, he took four wickets, significantly, three of those dismissals were of batsmen in their fifties and looking in for a stubborn stay. But the real heroics came in the fourth innings of the match. Set a target of 331, South Africa were a side who could pull it off, even they crumbled to 119 all out in little over a session as Ali exploited the drying pitch and the rough patches around the off-stump.

Bowling the tight lines of a stock off-spinner, Ali sent six of the Proteas packing to collect career-best match figures of 10/112.