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If you had taken your seat at Chepauk on Friday morning having never seen Moeen Ali bat, you would have been forgiven for wondering how on earth he found himself batting in the top four.But had you only taken your seat in the afternoon session, you would have been forgiven for wondering how he had ever found himself batting down at No. 8 or 9.For this innings was a microcosm of Moeens Test career with the bat. Like Beauty and the Beast rolled into one, it was, in turns, awful and ugly and brilliant and beautiful. It rarely hinted at permanence, but contained several strokes of rare quality. As he persuaded some balls to the boundary and flirted footlessly at others, he provided a demonstration of all his strengths and all his weaknesses. It was just a little bit Goweresque.He was beaten like a snare drum in the early stages. He was dropped before he had scored - the second match in succession an England centurion had benefited in such fashion - after trying to flick one over midwicket, and then survived a couple of early wafts against Ravi Ashwin that suggested a lack of confidence in his own defensive technique. He also saw an attempted flick into the leg side dart towards point off a leading edge. That he made it to lunch unbeaten (on 7 from 44 balls) was little short of a miracle.At that stage, it seemed safe to conclude that this was Moeens last foray into the top order. This was, after all, his 11th innings in the top four (one at No. 3, four at No. 4 and six as an opener) and they had brought seven scores under 20 and a best of 50. Some of the dismissals - not least hooking a bouncer to the men placed for the shot in the first innings in Mohali, or scooping to mid-on in the second - were just too soft to sustain the experiment.But after the interval he was a different man. Apparently determined to be more aggressive, he slog-swept both left-arm and offspin, he skipped down the track and, even though Ravi Ashwin beat him in the flight and he didnt quite make it to the pitch of the ball, he carried through with the stroke and cleared the field. He played with the uncompromised conviction that is the mantra of Trevor Bayliss and provided a pretty decent advert for the virtues of the approach.He had some fortune. Having a man with the class of Joe Root at the other end for the first portion of his innings ensured there was little scoreboard pressure; Moeen contributed just 13 of the first 50 runs they added together. And, while the only bouncer that Umesh Yadav bowled at him resulted in an attempted pull that spooned just over midwicket, it was a line of attack that India failed to exploit. Ishant Sharma bowled him three more, but it seemed an odd oversight. There were a couple of decent lbw shouts after that but Moeen, learning the lessons from earlier in the series, ensured he had his pad outside the line of the stumps and, once he had reached 40, was hardly troubled. Amit Mishra, whose relative lack of pace allowed Moeen time to skip down the pitch to him, came in for particular punishment, but he also coped with Ashwin admirably after that torturous first hour. He had given England a decent chance of the sort of imposing first-innings total that could end this demanding tour with a consolation victory. Two more sessions of batting may be required, though.It was Moeens second century of the series - the first was made while batting at No. 5 in Rajkot - and the fourth of a calendar year that has seen him become one of just five men to record 1,000 Test runs in 2016. While the inclusion of four England players in that list underlines the huge amount of Test cricket they have played, that still represents a fine achievement. His average for the year (48.00) is almost six higher than Alastair Cooks (42.10) and less than two fewer than Joe Roots (50.20).Where does it leave him in the future? Back at No. 7 or 8, probably. With Jonny Bairstow pencilled in to stay at No. 5 (he is clearly good enough to bat at No. 4 but the England management are keen to provide him with a break between batting and keeping) and Ben Stokes looking settled at No. 6, those are the obvious vacancies. Root could well return to No. 4 - especially if Keaton Jennings makes a strong case for his retention at the start of the next English season - leaving Moeen squeezed out of the top order. Besides, for all the charm and fluency of his batting, we have probably seen enough now to appreciate that consistency is unlikely to be one of his strengths. There are too many flaws, too many foibles. And top-four players need to at least offer the potential of consistency.Ideally, he would bat no lower than No. 7 and be given the chance to establish himself there without further confusion. Batting at No. 8 will be an obvious temptation - it allows room for Jos Buttler at No. 7 and still allows room for four seamers (including Stokes) - but Moeens record there is poor. Often forced to accelerate before he is ready, he averages only 28.06 in 19 innings there. At No. 7, high enough to placate his batsmans pride and low enough to alleviate the worst of the pressure of expectation, he averages 87.85 in 10 innings.The other issue he faces is the possibility that he has been replaced as Englands first-choice spinner. Adil Rashid has claimed far more wickets than him this series (22 to nine) and has been referred to as Englands best spinner by the coach, Trevor Bayliss. There wont be too many surfaces in England when they require two spinners, though they may conclude that, such is their allround strength, they have room for both Rashid and Moeen.Recognising this problem some weeks ago, the England management have given Moeen a chance to establish himself as a specialist batsman (and support spin bowler) in recent weeks. As Bayliss said after the Mumbai Test: We came here to give Moeen a chance to cement a spot in the top six and play more as a bat and, as we saw in the first three games, the third spinner.This century may convince them that he has taken the chance. But Moeen, who batted everywhere from one to nine in his first 35 Tests, has emerged as Englands ultimate utility player and is likely to remain in a floating role in the immediate future. If Englands priority is getting the best out of Moeen, they will probably bat him at No. 7 or higher, but if the priority is what is best for the side, it is understandable that, despite all the runs this year, he plays his next Test as a No. 8. Ryan Pulock Jersey .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Thomas Greiss Jersey . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. http://www.islanderssale.com/authentic-leo-komarov-islanders-jersey/ . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Thomas Hickey Jersey . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Nick Leddy Islanders Jersey . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. CHASKA, Minn. -- Bubba Watson will be at the Ryder Cup, even if its not exactly the way he imagined it.U.S. captain Davis Love III announced Monday that Watson has been added to the team as a fifth vice captain. The two-time Masters champion and 7th-ranked player in the world competed as a player on the last three U.S. squads, and said at the start of the year that his goals were to play in both the Olympics and the Ryder Cup.Watson finished tied for eighth at the Rio Games, but he wound up just outside of the eighth and last automatic qualifying spot as a Ryder Cup player. He then began lobbying behind the scenes for one of the four captains picks at Loves discretion.Watson was described as heartbroken after the first three picks went to J.B. Holmes, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar. But he also made it a point to let Love know he still wanted to be part of the team, even if it meant as a non-playing assistant.That appeared to count for little after Love used his final pick to add Ryan Moore just hours after he lost the Tour Championship to Rory McIlroy in a playoff Sunday. But the U.S. captain said he remained impressed by Watsons unselfish gesture and decidedd to add him the following day.dddddddddddd.I told him we had an extra red cart and wed love to have him, Love said. So hes back at the hotel trying to get his clothes fit and get ready for assistant captain duties.Watson joins Tiger Woods, Steve Stricker, Tom Lehman and Jim Furyk as assistants. Love told at least one PGA of America official that hed have this figured out way before the Tour Championship starts.And I was, of course, completely wrong, he said, laughing.Love also talked previously about trying to balance all the outsized personalities that will make up the U.S. squad, as well as his assistants. After some review, he decided Watson would be a valuable complementary part.We felt like we needed experience with our assistant captains. We needed some former captain experience and some possible future captain experience. Obviously Bubba rounds that out; major championship experience, Ryder Cup experience, on our side, Love said.He adds a lot of fun. He adds a different personality. But, Love added, he brings a great heart. ' ' '