As England continue to face the heat Down Under, cricket pundits and fans are busy discussing what could follow the embarrassing Ashes defeat.
England cricketers Moeen Ali and Alastair Cook talked about the possibilities of an English player from the current pool becoming the head coach of the national team in the future.
As the Englishmen were sharing the same stage on BT Sports, Moeen took a sly dig at his former skipper, mentioning that some lack patience and empathy to take on the charge of head coach's position.
"I think there are a couple of guys who you think potentially could be really good coaches or somebody who can go that way but there are also guys who you think coaching is not for them I don't think they have the patience for it. Probably doesn't have the empathy for it," Moeen was quoted as saying on BT Sports.
Cook sensed that Moeen's comment was directed towards him and laughed off, saying, "Just another dig, just another dig!"
For the unversed, both the stars were involved in a heated exchange earlier as Moeen compared Cook's captaincy with the current Test skipper of England Joe Root. The all-rounder felt more comfortable playing under Root. However, his statement was not taken very well by Cook.
"Rooty has more of an emotional attachment with the players, he spends more time with the players," Mooen said.
"Are you just criticising my captaincy?" Cook asked. To which Moeen replied, "I am a little bit, yeah. They're both very different, I did do better with the bat under Cooky but with the ball, I was better with Rooty."
Notably, Ali was made to bat as an opener and also as a number 9 batsman during Cook's reign as the Test skipper of England. As Cook tried to defend himself, Moeen seemed to be miffed with his inconsistent batting position during the former's captaincy tenure and reminded him of the same.
"So you might criticise me but I’ve never dropped you, how many times did Rooty drop you?" Cook said in his defence. "That’s true but you also batted me from 1 to 9 in my first year of international cricket," Ali replied.
"I was giving you a chance, I couldn’t work whether if you were a tail-ender or an opening batsman so I just did that to find the perfect role," Cook added.
Moeen again went on to compare Root with Cook, saying, "Just to go back to my point, Rooty was a little bit more involved with the players, in my opinion. Not that Cooky doesn’t care but I think Rooty is a bit more ‘arm over the shoulder’ kind of guy".
Cook again took an offence to the statement but responded back in a calm manner. "I’m not sure I will take this anymore, I've just come back from a nice holiday and I’ve walked straight into Moeen Ali off his long run," he said.
The pair also had a discussion if the current England white-ball skipper, Eoin Morgan has what it takes to become a good coach to which Moeen Ali had a negative response.