LONDON: England all-rounder Moeen Ali is set to announce his retirement from test cricket, British media reported.
Reports said Moeen had already informed captain Joe Root and head coach Chris Silverwood about his decision last week. The 34-year-old has scored 2,914 runs in 64 tests at an average of 28.29 and taken 195 wickets with his off-spin.
Having played little test cricket since the 2019 Ashes, Moeen was recalled for the home summer series against India and played in three matches in the absence of Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes.
He is currently in the UAE, playing for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. England’s next test series is against Australia in the Ashes starting in December. He is now looking to specialise in white-ball cricket for England, in county cricket for Worcestershire and domestic Twenty20 tournaments.
If the fifth Test had not been cancelled, Moeen might even have become just the 15th player in Test history to score 3,000 career runs and claim 200 wickets. He finishes 84 runs and five wickets short of joining an elite group of cricketers that features the likes of Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Garfield Sobers.
There have been significant highs, including 25 wickets and 252 runs in the 3-1 win against South Africa in 2017 – a series that included a hat‑trick to seal victory at the Oval – and bowling England to series wins at home against India in 2014 and 2018. In 2016 he compiled four Test centuries in the calendar year, a feat only Root and Alastair Cook have recorded among Englishmen in the past decade.
Moeen’s Test career may well go down as one of the more significant in recent times, both as a role model for the British Asian community and as a high-profile and popular Muslim sportsman who displayed his faith openly.
