Saturday 2 May 2015 12:16, UK
Moeen Ali says Alastair Cook’s battling century against the West Indies in the third Test was vital, both for the skipper and team.
Moeen made 58 in a partnership of 98 with his captain, who went on to end his near two-year wait for a three-figure score in Tests before his dismissal for 105 in the last over left England 240-7 having won the toss.
Cook's return to form was particularly welcome ahead of series against New Zealand and Australia this summer, the captain striking 12 boundaries in the 266 balls he faced.
Moeen - whose own innings was ended by a run-out for which he revealed Cook had apologised - added: "I think throughout the summer and the winter, everybody's been rooting for Cook to do well.
"Especially being our leader and our captain, it's very important to him personally that he's got this hundred.
"Looking forward to the New Zealand Test matches, it's exactly what we need. We need our captain to be performing well.
"The most important thing was he got the team out of trouble with that century. He'll be more proud about that."
Ali is hoping his bowling comes to the fore against the West Indies.
Marlon Samuels got the wicket of the England skipper and while it put the home side on top, his breakthrough also offered encouragement to fellow spinner Moeen.
He said: "When I faced a few balls I was looking forward to bowling on it.
"It's the sort of pitch I've been looking for, in terms of a bit of bounce, a bit of spin. Hopefully I can settle right away into a line and length and then I can be quite dangerous.
"There's some bits starting to stick out. It's going to get worse, I think, as the game goes on. We didn't expect it to spin so much, but the bounce is always the key here.
"To be seven down tonight is a bit disappointing, because we were looking quite comfortable at one stage.
"Hopefully we can get a partnership tomorrow and build a score. We'll have to play really well with the bat and then we'll have to bowl really well."
West Indies paceman Jason Holder, who took 2-34 in 16 impressive overs, was pleased with his team's efforts.
"To get seven wickets on a pretty flat pitch and keep them down to 240, we'll take that," he said.
"If you build pressure, these things happen. I thought our spinners (did) a wonderful job. It's really put us in a very good position."
Holder reserved praise for Cook and said: "I thought he was very patient. I think it's credit to him for the way he played. I thought his temperament was very good."
