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Moeen Ali admitted the absence of several regulars is \u201cno excuse\u201d for England\u2019s faltering white-ball tour of the Caribbean ahead of a must-win T20 against Grenada on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Following a shock group-stage exit at the World Cup in India, England lost the ODI series to the West Indies and have no more margin for error in the T20s after falling 2-0 down with three to play.<\/p>\n
This was supposed to be a dry run for the defence of their T20 World Cup in the region next summer, but the Windies\u2019 belligerent batting has helped them to victories in Barbados and Grenada this week.<\/p>\n
While the tourists are without Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood, Moeen pointed out the bulk of the side that won the T20 World Cup last year are in tow and should be doing better than they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still players to come back,\u201d Moeen said. \u201cObviously with Stokesy, Bairstow and Woody.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there\u2019s no excuse. Everyone\u2019s a good player here \u2013 our guys have played quite a bit now in T20 cricket. It wasn\u2019t long ago since we won the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just gotta adapt quickly to these conditions because this is what we\u2019re going to get, it will be completely different to (last year\u2019s tournament in) Australia. I think we\u2019ve just got to start winning.<\/p>\n
You can still be positive and hit the ball high but you don’t have to always hit sixes<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a bit of time to go before the World Cup, but obviously we need to get a few things right as a side. We need to grab those moments and recognise those moments straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Windies have muscled a combined 27 sixes so far to persistently put pressure on England\u2019s bowlers, while Jos Buttler\u2019s side have cleared the rope on just 14 occasions.<\/p>\n
However, several England batters have been guilty of failing to build on their starts and gifted their wickets by being caught on the boundary in Thursday\u2019s 10-run defeat.<\/p>\n
Slow left-armer Gudakesh Motie conceded just nine runs in his four overs on a slow pitch and Moeen argued England\u2019s batters do not necessarily need to look to go aerial all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not good enough from our point \u2013 at least, I think we can rotate a bit more if we\u2019re not going to take him down, rotate a bit more and at least keep the scoreboard ticking,\u201d Moeen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always target bowlers and I just think we probably didn\u2019t get it right against their spin.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we\u2019ve got a lot of power and we can hit balls, but we\u2019re just giving the wicket away a lot of the time. You can still be positive and hit the ball high, but you don\u2019t have to always hit sixes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A switch of formats has not been conducive for England captain Jos Buttler, who was out for five off seven balls at the National Cricket Stadium after prodding meekly to the cover fielder in the ring.<\/p>\n
It has been a frustrating few months for Buttler, both in terms of his performances and England\u2019s results, but his white-ball deputy Moeen has urged for patience with the side in transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy role is to give him an answer when he asks me and make sure there\u2019s no doubt about anything coming from me and support him as much as I can,\u201d Moeen added. \u201cHe\u2019s led us to a World Cup (win).<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a difficult period. This was always going to happen as everyone knows. It\u2019s just getting back on it and making it clear for everybody their roles in the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a second match in 48 hours at St George\u2019s, England are likely to shuffle their bowlers as left-arm seamer Reece Topley and uncapped paceman John Turner push for involvement.<\/p>\n