England all-rounder Moeen Ali retires from Test cricket ahead of Ashes campaign

With just a couple of months left before the all-important Ashes series against Australia gets underway, the England Test team suffered a major blow with all-rounder Moeen Ali, announcing his immediate retirement from Test cricket. The news regarding the same was confirmed by the England Cricket Board (ECB) on its Twitter handle. The 34-year-old was recently seen in red-ball cricket during the five-match Test series against India.

Moeen Ali retires from Test cricket:

Currently, Moeen Ali is in UAE where he is playing for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021. In the statement released by the ECB, Moeen Ali said, 

“I’m 34 now and I want to play for as long as I can and I just want to enjoy my cricket. Test cricket is amazing, when you’re having a good day it’s better than any other format by far, it’s more rewarding and you feel like you’ve really earnt it."

He further said, "I will miss just walking out there with the lads, playing against best in the world with that feeling of nerves but also from a bowling point of view, knowing with my best ball I could get anyone out. I’ve enjoyed Test Cricket but that intensity can be too much sometimes and I feel like I’ve done enough of it and I’m happy and content with how I’ve done.”

Moeen Ali Test records 

Having started his Test career back in 2014 Moeen Ali has 195 wickets to his name, 28 Test victories and nine series wins. Had the final Test match against India took place at Manchester, Moeen Ali would have become just the 15th player in Test history to score 3,000 career runs and claim 200 wickets. Ali will also finish his Test Career 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. The off-spinner will finish hi career third on the list of spin bowlers to have taken Test wickets for England, behind Derek Underwood and Graeme Swann. 

Moeen Ali's only Ashes series came back in Australia back in 2017-18 with the cricketer failing to impress with both bat and ball. The left-hander failed to reach a half-century in the nine innings he played in the series. After a strong start in Brisbane where he made 38 and 40, Moeen Ali just scored 101 runs for the remainder of the tour. He bowled nearly 170 overs, taking only five wickets as the Aussies won the series 4-0.