Disrespecting Australia The Only Team I Have Disliked My Whole Life, Says Moeen Ali

England star Moeen Ali has labelled Australia ‘rude’ and the only team he has ever disliked. The allrounder also believes the five-time ODI world champions have been ‘humbled’ by the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.

Australian cricket faced one of its darkest times in March this year. Their skipper Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were caught in the ball-tampering scandal. And the repercussions soon followed. Cricket Australia slapped lengthy bans on the trio.

While Smith and Warner received one-year ban, Bancroft received a nine-month ban.

The incident was also widely criticised by the majority. But there were many who sympathised with the banned trio, feeling that the lengthy ban was too harsh.

However, for Moeen, there is no sympathy for Warner, Smith and Bancroft.

In a recent interview, the allrounder didn’t hold back about his dislike of the Australian team, recalling incidents from 2015.

“Everyone you speak to … they are the only team I’ve played against my whole life that I’ve actually disliked,” Moeen told The Times newspaper. “Not because its Australia and they are the old enemy.But because of the way they carry on and (their) disrespect of people and players.”

He further made it clear that he felt no sympathy for Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

“I’m someone who generally feels sorry for people when things go wrong but its difficult to feel sorry for them,” he said.

“The first game I ever played against them, in Sydney, just before the 2015 World Cup, they were not just going hard at you, they were almost abusing you. That was the first time it hit me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but the more I played against them they were just as bad, the Ashes here (in 2015) they were worse, actually,” he recalled. “Not intimidating, just rude.”

Moeen, however, pointed out that the attitude of the Australian ODI side he met in June 2018, under the new leadership of Tim Paine, was “very good”.

“This ODI series (in the UK in June) they were very good actually; they’d been . . . ” Humbled? “Yeah, humbled,” he recalled.

Moeen, meanwhile, recently made an impressive comeback to England’s Test side. In his comeback Test, he picked up 9 wickets against India to fire England to series-win.

Prior to that, the 31-year old had endured a terrible time in Australia during the 2017-18 Ashes. He averaged 19.88 with the bat and 115 with the ball that led to him being dropped for the first time in his career at the conclusion of the series.