Ashes 2017: Moeen Ali receives injury boost ahead of first Test as England continue to patch-up depleted squad

Head coach Trevor Bayliss insists the all-rounder will be fit for the first Test in 11 days' time

Moeen Ali should return for England;s final warm-up match ahead of the start of the Ashes (Getty)

England coach Trevor Bayliss says Moeen Ali will be fit for the Ashes after confirming the all-rounder will play in the final warm-up game against a Cricket Australia XI in Townsville this week.

Moeen pulled up with a side strain on arrival in Australia and missed England’s opening two tour games in Perth and Adelaide.

With Ben Stokes absent because of the ongoing police investigation into his late-night altercation in Bristol during the one-day series against West Indies at the end of the summer, the injury to another key all-rounder was a major concern for England ahead of the start of the Ashes in Brisbane on Thursday week.

Steven Finn has already left the tour with a torn knee cartilage and Jake Ball is a doubt for the first Test with strained ankle tendons.

But Moeen’s recovery gives the tourists some welcome good news.

“He’s fine,” said Bayliss. “He’s been bowling and batting [in the nets] during this match. He thinks he could have played in this match. No concerns there, he will be playing in Townsville.”

Sussex left-arm seamer George Garton, 20, has been called up from the Lions as cover for Ball in Townsville this week.

Garton was chosen ahead of Mark Wood, also with the Lions squad arriving in Queensland on Tuesday but overlooked because he has yet to prove his fitness, Middlesex seamer Tom Helm, recovering from a hamstring strain and Worcestershire’s Josh Tongue.

Liam Plunkett, an integral member of England’s one-day team, was also considered but ruled out of an Ashes call-up after he sustained an injury playing in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Asked why England chose Garton, Bayliss said: “Because he’s fit. Wood and Helm were our first two. They are coming out with the Lions but aren’t quite up to game speed. They have only been bowling in the nets for a week or two so we were a bit concerned about them in a four-day game.

“Plunkett missed the last game in the BPL with a slight hamstring strain so it’s down to Garton or Tongue, who were both coming out with the Lions. He will join us for that game then go back to the camp.”

Wood, 27, is England’s quickest bowler when fit but has played just ten Tests since his debut in 2015 following a succession of injuries.

Bayliss would love to draft him in to his Ashes squad at some point during the tour but the Durham player needs to prove his fitness during the Lions’ upcoming training camps in Brisbane and Perth.

“He bowled in the nets last week and went well, so it’ll be great to see him when the Lions are here and they will come to some of our training sessions in Brisbane or Perth,” said Bayliss.

England’s brittle batting was exposed by an inexperienced CA XI in Adelaide, with the loss of their final five first-innings wickets for 22 runs followed by a second-innings collapse of seven for 45.

The form of Alastair Cook, whose top-score in three innings on tour is 32, is a particular concern.

Cook has struggled for runs since touching down in Australia (Getty)

But Bayliss believes the 32-year-old opener, England’s record runscorer with 147 Test appearances to his name, will come good.

“Cooky at the top of the order, I don’t have too many concerns about him, he’s been in this situation before. He would like to be scoring a few more runs.

“I think it would be fair to say Cooky always looks a bit rusty. He’d probably be the first to admit that. This game he started to hit a few more in the middle of the bat. He’s hitting plenty in the middle of the bat in the nets. It’s a concern for any individual batter I suppose at different times through their career, but with Cook having played almost 150 Tests, I’m sure he’s been through this before.”

On the collapses in Adelaide, Bayliss added: “It’s been a concern for us for a little while. We have games like that, where we lose wickets like that, and it is a concern. We have a reasonably inexperienced line-up when it comes to international cricket but they are learning all the time. It’s not for want of trying. They realise they have got to do better and they are working hard to do that.”