Birmingham born cricketer Moeen Ali’s call up for England yesterday sparked racist slurs on social media.
The worst of the abuse was on BBC Sport’s Facebook page, where cricket “fans” responded to the news with a numerous racist comments, referring to the all-rounder as “Bin Laden” and “Borat”.
Others assumed that he was “foreign” and questioned whether England should select a “non-English player”. It initiated a debate with many condemning the remarks as ignorant.
The 26 year-old is of Pakistani descent is a devout Muslim. He emerged as a cricketing talent at Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire.
Ali spoke yesterday of his happiness at being called up: “I’m going to the West Indies and the t20 World Cup! I am really pleased, not just for me but the fact that I’m in playing for Worcestershire and I’m more happy for the club.”
National selector James Whitaker praised the player: “Moeen has been a very consistent performer for Worcestershire and the club and their coaching staff must take credit for his continued progress.”
Achievements
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The left-handed batsman and off-spin bowler played county cricket for Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire after the 2006 season. He won Warwickshire’s NBC Denis Compton Award in both 2004 and 2005.
Ali signed for Warwickshire aged just 15, hitting a half-century for the county’s Second XI a few days before his 16th birthday. After more games at this level in 2004, and a first outing for England Under-19s against their Bangladeshi counterparts he spent the succeeding winter playing for the Under-19s on their tour of India.
2005 saw Ali make his first-class debut, against Cambridge University in May. He made an impressive 57 not out in his only innings, and sent down two overs for 15 runs. Playing that summer against Sri Lankan Uner-19s, he starred in the final “Test” by making 52 not out and 100 not out (the latter innings from 56 balls) and claiming seven wickets.
He was then selected for the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, which was in fact held in Sri Lanka, being immediately promoted to captain by coach Andy Pick. He made three half-centuries in the tournament, and took seven wickets.
Ali got a few more opportunities for his county in 2006, playing his first List A games. The first of these came against Derbyshire, where he dismissed Steffan Jones to claim his maiden first-team wicket. He also took his first wickets in first-class cricket, and his first three victims were all Test players. With the bat he scored 68 on his County Championship debut against Nottinghamshire, then equalled that score against Durham.
Ali made his debut for Worcestershire in their ten-wicket win over Loughborough UCCE on 25 April 2007.
