Picture Courtesy : Twitter
England allrounder Moeen Ali’s allegation that he was racially abused by an Australian player during the 2015 Ashes is set to be followed up by Cricket Australia. This was reported in the news of cricket Australia website.
Moeen, who is of Islamic faith, made the claim in his soon-to-be released autobiography, from which an excerpt appeared in UK newspaper The Times.
The alleged abuse occurred during the first Test of the series in Cardiff, in which the Englishman made a fine Ashes debut, scoring 77 and taking five wickets in a comfortable win for the hosts.
“It was a great first Ashes Test in terms of my personal performance,” Moeen wrote. “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.
“I told a couple of the guys what the player had said to me and I think (England coach) Trevor Bayliss must have raised it with Darren Lehmann, the Australians’ coach.
“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.”
According to Moeen, another raising of the incident at the conclusion of the series was again met with a denial by the player in question, who added that some of his best friends were Muslim.
In reaction to the allegation, a Cricket Australia Spokesperson said: “Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and have no place in our sport, or in society.
“We have a clear set of values and behaviours that comes with representing our country.
“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.”
Moeen’s claims are the second time this week he has raised an issue with the Australians, in particular the 2015 touring party, whom he labelled “rude” and “disrespectful”.
“Everyone you speak to … they are the only team I’ve played against my whole life that I’ve actually disliked,” he told The Times.
“Not because it’s Australia and they are the ‘Old Enemy’ but because of the way they carry on and (their) disrespect of people and players.
“The first game I ever played against them, in Sydney, just before the 2015 World Cup, they were not just going hard at you, they were almost abusing you.
“That was the first time it hit me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but the more I played against them they were just as bad, the Ashes here (in 2015) they were worse actually.
“Not intimidating, just rude. Individually they are fine and the Aussies we’ve had at Worcester have been fantastic, lovely guys.”
