Veteran England all-rounder Moeen Ali has announced his retirement from all international cricket after being overlooked for England’s upcoming white-ball series against Australia. He last represented England in their semi-final loss to India at the 2024 T20 World Cup in Guyana as well.
“I’m 37 years old and didn’t get picked for this month’s Australia series,” Moeen told Daily Mail in an interview. “I’ve played a lot of cricket for England. It’s time for the next generation, which was also explained to me. It felt the time was right. I’ve done my part.”
However, Moeen Ali made his white-ball debut for England on their 2014 tour of the West Indies and then played 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for the country in his 10-year career as well. When Sri Lanka visited England later that year, Moeen Ali made his Test debut at the Lord’s and played England in 68 matches overall. He finishes with 6678 runs, including eight centuries and 28 half-centuries, and 366 wickets for England across the three formats as well.
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“I’m very proud. When you first play for England, you don’t know how many games you’re going to play. So to play nearly 300… My first few years were all about Test cricket. Once Morgs [Eoin Morgan] took over the one-day stuff, that was more fun. But Test cricket was proper cricket. Even now, I’ve tried to be realistic. I could hold on and try to play for England again, but I know in reality I won’t. Even retiring, I don’t feel it’s because I’m not good enough — I still feel I can play. But I get how things are, and the team needs to evolve into another cycle. It’s about being real to myself,” he added.
“People forget the impact you make in games. It might only have been 20 or 30, but it was a crucial 20 or 30. For me, it was about making an impact. I know what I brought to the side, on and off the field. As long as I felt people enjoyed watching me play, whether or not I did well, I was happy with that,” he further shared.
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Moeen Ali also said that he will continue playing franchise cricket, and he could later be involved in coaching. Moeen is currently playing his trade in CPL 2024 with the defending champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors as well. Notably, over the last year, Moeen was also in action at the IPL for CSK, a part of the SA20 for Joburg Super Kings and in the BPL with Chittagong Vikings as well.
“A bit of franchise cricket, because I still love playing. But coaching is something I want to do — I want to be one of the best. I can learn a lot from Baz [Brendon McCullum]. I hope people remember me as a free spirit. I played some nice shots and some bad shots, but hopefully people enjoyed watching me,” he cocluded.
