Ashes 2017: Moeen Ali stresses Australia are 'not as good' as people think, but concedes England 'let ourselves down'

The lack of runs from and the failure to dismiss Steve Smith are two key regrets for Moeen, but the all-rounder had no qualms about his controversial run-out as England head for defeat

Moeen Ali believes England are not that far off Australia despite imminent First Test defeat (Getty)

Moeen Ali tried to pick the positives out of the wreckage of England’s likely defeat in the first Ashes Test, declaring that Australia are “not as good” as people think they are.

Australia require just 56 more runs for victory on the fifth morning, with all their wickets in hand. But Moeen was encouraged at the way England had competed for large periods of the match, pinpointing the absence of big hundreds from the batsmen as the main deficiency.

“Obviously very disappointed,” he said. “I thought the first three days, we played well, we were right in the game. Today we let ourselves down – with the bat, especially. We got in and never got the big score that we needed. That’s cost us.

“The wicket was still good. It was a good pitch to bat on. To have any chance of Australia not winning here, guys had to get hundreds. The good thing is that the batters are quite hungry to score. It’s always difficult to take positives, but that is a positive. The new guys batted quite well.”

Moeen identified two big lost opportunities: the needless run-out of James Vince for 83 on day one, and the failure to capitalise a good start with the ball, as Australia slipped to 76-4. “Steve Smith was the big difference,” he admitted. “Without him, they would have struggled to get anywhere near 300. Those two are the big situations that we regret.”

There were few regrets, however, over his controversial stumping off Nathan Lyon. Moeen’s toe was on the very cusp of the line when the bails were removed, but he admitted: “If I was bowling, I’d want it out. The replay did look very tight. It’s what happens. You’ve got to respect the umpire’s call, try and move on.”

Moeen Ali is stumped by Tim Paine off Nathan Lyon's bowling (Getty)

No team has come from behind to win an Ashes series since Michael Vaughan’s 2005 side. But even though Moeen conceded the inevitability of defeat in Brisbane, he had seen enough here to be confident. “Australia, they are a good side, but probably not as good as we sometimes make out,” he said. “We know we can compete. Tomorrow, we won’t win the game, but if we can just take a few wickets.”

Meanwhile, Australia’s Mitchell Starc warned England’s fragile tail that they can continue to expect a trial by bouncer. “We got stuck into that tail pretty quickly,” he said. “We’ve got plans to all the English batters, and spoken a bit about their tail. The way that our boys bowled against them in the last Ashes [in Australia, in 2013-14], we used that as a blueprint. They can expect some more short stuff as the series goes on.”

Starc warned England to expect more short bowling tactics (Getty)

Starc shrugged off any concerns about his own fitness, and said that he was looking forward to arriving in the morning knowing he would not have to bowl. “It’s a great feeling amongst the group,” he said. “We know the first Test match is huge. It’ll put us in a very strong position. England will have to chase us from now on. I’d rather be in our changing room than theirs.”