England all-rounder Moeen Ali is set to join multiple high-profile players to have come out of retirement. Ali, who last played a Test match in 2021, is a part of England’s Playing XI for the first Ashes 2023 Test against Australia starting from today. He is born in Birmingham only and will be making his return at his home ground.
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The 35-year-old player’s name started to erupt as soon as spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the series. Leach, who is England’s ace red-ball spinner, suffered a lower back stress fracture. He developed symptoms during the one-off Test against Ireland earlier this month.
The inclusion of Ali makes a lot of sense as Australia have multiple left-handed batters such as Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Travis Head, Alex Carey, etc in their ranks. Ali had a forgetful Ashes 2017-18 away from home and he would want to improve his record against the Aussies now.
Moeen Ali Retirement
Ali announced his retirement after the fourth Test against India in 2021. It was interesting because Ali had made his return to England’s red-ball side in the third match of the same series at Headingley. In that match, he bowled just two overs in the first innings and 14 overs in the second.
After fourth Test, Ali said that it was the right call to bid his goodbye to the format. He acknowledged that he was not able to concentrate while batting and was just playing rash shots. Ali then decided to shift his focus towards shorter formats only.
England toured Pakistan in 2022 and Ali was again in contention due to the subcontinent conditions. Ali also confirmed that he is officially available. However, the talks didn’t materialize and he was not a part of the tour.
Ali is back in the team now and he said that he only came out of retirement because of captain Ben Stokes. Both Stokes and Ali spent a good two months together at Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League 2023.
England’s assistant coach Paul Collingwood believes Ali’s return is a big positive for the side. However, former captain Michael Atherton said that he wouldn’t have picked Ali in the squad due to him not playing a first-class match since Test retirement.
Former English batter Mark Butcher is also against Ali’s Test comeback. Speaking to Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said that the English team took a big risk in selecting a player who has not played red-ball cricket for a while now.
“Moeen Ali has never been a holding bowler in his entire career and has not played any red-ball cricket for two years. His Ashes record is pretty bad with bat and with ball,” Butcher had said.
Ali has scored 476 Test runs against Australia at an average of 25.05 with the help of two half-centuries. With the ball, he has scalped 20 wickets at an average and strike rate of 64.65 and 100.50, respectively. These are certainly very average numbers.
How Many English Cricketers Have Come Out Of Retirement?
Ali is not the only England player to come out of retirement. Former England batter Kevin Pietersen also did the same earlier in his career. In 2012, Pietersen announced his retirement from limited-overs cricket. He said that he wanted to focus on Test cricket only and wanted to leave a spot for youngsters for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
Later in the same year, Pietersen confirmed his desire to play in all three formats for the English side. His relationship with the ECB (England Cricket Board) regressed over the years and he eventually announced his retirement in 2018.
