ICC World Cup 2019 | England will continue their relentless nature in all games, says Moeen Ali

Picked ahead of Liam Plunkett for the match against Afghanistan, Moeen Ali stepped in and smashed 31 off just nine balls as England posted the highest total, 397, at this World Cup so far. If selected to play against Sri Lanka on Friday, it will mark Ali’s 100th ODI for his country. Prior to the match, he spoke to reporters during training and at the pre-match press conference, expressing that his team will not take the foot off the gas in any match. 

“Every game we play like it’s our last game and I think if we play like that… to have the enjoyment and stuff, but every game is huge,” he was quoted telling reporters during training.

England sit pretty at third place on the table with eight points from five games, while Sri Lanka are battling for survival. With just one win, against minnows Afghanistan, and two abandoned matches, the match against England is crucial to their semi-final hopes. Although they beat Sri Lanka handsomely in the ODI series between the two nations last year, Moeen is aware of the danger they possess.

“Sri Lanka pose a big threat tomorrow and, as you saw against Australia, they were playing really well and probably could have won that game as well,” Moeen said during the press conference.

Host nation and tournament favourites England are chasing their maiden World Cup title with three runners-up finishes as their best return. The all-rounder believes that the team has come leaps and bounds in the last four years but needs to validate their progress with a trophy. 

“That improvement, everybody knows, and we have been talking about it for a while now, but as a team we know that a trophy matters for us and hopefully this is it,” he said.