Moeen Ali, England all-rounder, has announced his retirement from international cricket. This comes after he was not picked in the England squad for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia at home.
Moeen made his white-ball debut for England during their 2014 tour of the West Indies, and he went on to play 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for the country across a 10-year career.
When Sri Lanka visited England later that year, Moeen made his Test debut at Lord's and played 68 matches for England. He finishes with 6678 runs, including eight hundreds and 28 fifties, and 366 wickets for England in all three formats.
"I'm 37 years old and wasn't picked for this month's Australia series. I've played a lot of cricket for England. It's time for the next generation, which I also explained. It felt like the time was right. I've done my part,” Moeen Ali told Daily Mail in an 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 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,” Moeen added.
Moeen Ali was the England vice-captain in white ball cricket as well.
"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 said.
Moeen has confirmed that he’ll continue to play franchise cricket around the globe. Moeen is currently plying his trade in CPL 2024 with the defending champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors.
"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 said.
On his greatest moment, he 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 vs South Africa in 2022)."
In terms of franchise cricket over the last 12 months, he has also represented Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, the Joburg Super Kings in SA20, and Comilla Victorians in the BPL.
