Coach Trevor Bayliss has revealed England were discouraged to make an official complaint, after an Australian player called all-rounder Moeen Ali ‘Osama’ in 2015.

Ali made the comment public via an upcoming autobiography, but didn’t want the incident escalated at the time.

‘He didn’t want it to go any further,’ Bayliss told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

‘He’s a very softly spoken sort of a bloke. He doesn’t want to create too many problems for anyone. There were other players in the team who wanted to take it further but he talked them into not taking it any further.’

Bayliss consulted then-Australian coach Darren Lehmann at the time, but didn’t receive a response.

Cricket Australia will investigate the matter after the publication of the remarks.

‘I just left it with Darren to sort out one way or the other. I’m not going to make too much of it. It was bloody three years ago, let’s move on. Cricket Australia can do what they like I suppose – everyone has sort of forgotten about it and moved on since then. I don’t see it as any real big deal,’ said Bayliss.

‘It was a hard-fought series – you’re not party to what goes on out on the field and certainly nothing else was reported or anything through that series so we just left it at that.’

The Australian player allegedly said ‘part-timer’, not ‘Osama’ in reference to late al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.