Head Coach Peter Moores was full of praise for the in-form Moeen Ali following England’s five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Hambantota yesterday.
Moeen followed up his maiden one-day international century in the opening game of the seven-match series with a blistering 58 as England pulled the score back to 2-1.
Moores praised Moeen, who only made his international debut earlier this year, for the character he has shown since coming into the side.
Speaking exclusively to ecb.co.uk, Moores said:“He’s a lovely lad. He wants to express himself on the field and one of his goals when he came in was he wants to show people he can bat.
“People who have seen him at county level knows what an exciting one-day player he is; he’s shown that in this series and we hope he keeps going from strength to strength.”
Jos Buttler was another who impressed the England Head Coach yesterday, hitting an unbeaten 55 to see England home.
Speaking about how effective Buttler is at the death, Moores said: “You know with someone like Jos, if you don’t get it in the right place he’s very difficult to bowl at because he attacks both down the ground but also with his scoops.
"He makes it tough to defend behind the wicket as well.”
Joe Root also played a key role in the win, partnering Buttler at the end and finishing off the game in an unbroken stand of 84, and Moores praised the duo for being there at the end.
“What Jos and Joe did really well was they took their time to get established so they could attack at the end of the game, and in the end we got home quite comfortably,” he said.
Despite the victory, which sees England travel to Colombo on a high, Moores admitted there was still plenty to be improved upon, but thinks it is an exciting sign.
Speaking after it was announced that Alastair Cook would be suspended from the next game due to a slow over-rate, Moores said: “The nice thing is that we made some mistakes as well and it’s always easier to look back at those when you’ve won the game.
“Bowling-wise we didn’t quite get the ball in the areas we wanted to and let them get away a little bit in the powerplay at the end.”
He added: “It’s great to know we’re back in the series at 2-1.”