Moeen Ali stopped irate England players from lodging complaint against Australian ‘Osama’ sledger
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss has revealed that Moeen Ali stopped angry teammates from lodging an official complaint against the Australian player who allegedly called him “Osama” in 2015.
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ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss has revealed that Moeen Ali stopped angry teammates from lodging an official complaint against the Australian player who allegedly called him “Osama” back in 2015.
Bayliss confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that he took the allegation to Australian coach Darren Lehmann at the time of the first Ashes Test in Cardiff three years ago but that’s as far as the issue went.
England’s Australian-born mentor says he never personally got a response from Lehmann, but says he felt comfortable that the matter was dealt with.
Moeen has written in his autobiography that he felt he had to take the Australian at his word at the time, after it came back to him that the player had denied saying “Take that, Osama” and instead claimed he’d sledged, “Take that you, part-timer”.
Bayliss says Moeen made an active point of not wanting the incident reported to the match referee where it would have been formally investigated, this despite other England stars urging him to take instant and severe action.
“No, he didn’t want it to go any further. He was happy for it (to be dealt with between the two teams),” said Bayliss.
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“He’s a very softly spoken sort of a bloke. He doesn’t want to create too many problems for anyone.
“There was other players in the team who wanted to take it further but he talked them into not taking it any further.”
Reports out of England suggest Moeen originally planned to name the Australian player in his autobiography, but changed his mind for the final manuscript.
A Cricket Australia spokesman said contact has been made with the England Cricket Board and they are awaiting a response.
Bayliss said he didn’t get a response from Lehmann but insists he was comfortable the matter had been dealt with in the manner Moeen wanted it addressed.
“Well I didn’t get a response. I just left it with Darren to sort out one way or the other. I didn’t hear any response, but everything was dealt with then,” he said.
Cricket Australia has said they will investigate the incident and have already made contact with the England Cricket Board.
“CA are correct to seek further information and clarification from the ECB,” a spokesman said.
“Especially since the ACA understands from media reports that this alleged on field matter was investigated and resolved in 2015.
“The game must have zero tolerance for any form of vilification.
“The ACA will make no further comment as CA make further inquiries.”
However, Bayliss said he doesn’t feel much can or should be done so long after the alleged incident took place.
“I’m not going to make too much of it, it was bloody three years ago, let’s move on,” he said.
“They (Cricket Australia) can do what they like I suppose, everyone has sort of forgotten about it and moved on since then. I don’t see it as any real big deal.
“It was a hard-fought series. But no, I thought (relations after that point) were OK.
“You’re not party to what goes on out on the field and certainly nothing else was reported or anything through that series so we just left it at that.”
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