England allrounder Moeen Ali retires from international cricket

New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) England allrounder Moeen Ali has announced his retirement from international cricket after being left out of the white-ball series against Australia.

Moeen last represented England in their semifinal loss to India at the 2024 T20 World Cup in Guyana.

“I’m 37 years old and didn’t get picked for this month’s Australia series. 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,” Moeen said in a Daily Mail interview.

“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 the proper cricket,” he said.

Moeen made his white-ball debut for England on their 2014 tour of West Indies and went on to play 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for the country in his 10-year career. He made his Test debut at the Lord’s against sri Lanka, and represented England in 68 Tests overall. He finishes with 6678 runs, including eight centuries and 28 fifties, and 366 wickets for England across the three formats.

“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.

“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 said.

The 37-year-old had already retired from Test cricket, for a second time, after last year’s Ashes. First he announced his retirement from Test cricket in September 2021 after England’s series against India.

But, he reversed his decision following discussions with captain Ben Stokes, head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key, and joined the England men’s Test squad for the Ashes last year.

In addition, Moeen stated that he would keep playing franchise cricket and that he might eventually pursue a career in coaching.

“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. I hope people remember me as a free spirit. I played some nice shots and some bad shots, but hopefully people enjoyed watching me,” said Moeen.

Reflecting on his greatest moment of his career, Moeen said, ” Winning the Ashes and two World Cups was great, but from an individual point of view it was my Test hat-trick against South Africa at the Oval to win us the game. And I’m proud to have the fastest T20 50 for England (16 balls v South Africa in 2022).

–IANS

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