An Australian player called me ‘Osama’ during 2015 Ashes, claims Moeen Ali
Moeen further said that he found the Australians rude and disrespectful and not intimidating. Cricket Australia will now take up the issue with the England Cricket Board.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali has lashed out at the Australian side for making racial slurs during the 2015 Ashes. Recalling the incident, Moeen said that the rude and disrespectful approach of the Australian side left him really angry.
Moeen revealed that the incident took place in the first Test match at Cardiff where he scored 77 while batting and then scalped five wickets in the game as England won the game by 169 runs.
“It was a great first Ashes Test in terms of my personal performance. However there was one incident which had distracted me. An Australian player had turned to me on the field and said, ‘Take that, Osama.’ I could not believe what I had heard. I remember going really red. I have never been so angry on a cricket field,” he wrote in his autobiography which is being serialised by The Times.
“I told a couple of the guys what the player had said to me and I think Trevor Bayliss [the England coach] must have raised it with Darren Lehmann, the Australians’ coach,” he further wrote.
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Giving a further account of the entire incident, Moeen wrote: “Lehmann asked the player, ‘Did you call Moeen Osama?’ He denied it, saying, ‘No, I said, ‘Take that, you part-timer.’’ I must say I was amused when I heard that, obviously I had to take the player’s word for it, though for the rest of the match I was angry.”
However, he did say that he found the Australians rude and disrespectful and not intimidating. Cricket Australia will now take up the issue with the England and Wales Cricket Board. Ever since the ball-tampering issue which rocked Australian cricket, the entire culture of the team has been questioned and criticised and hence, these new revelations by Moeen will only tarnish the image even further.
“We take this matter very seriously, and are following up with the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) as a matter of urgency to seek further clarification around the alleged incident,” Cricket Australia spokesperson said.
