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English all-rounder Moeen Ali, who had called his retirement from red-ball cricket in September 2021, has decided to make his comeback in the longest format for the forthcoming Ashes series. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) approached him for the upcoming Ashes series, commencing on June 16. The 35-year-old was in talks with the ECB after Jack Leach was ruled out of the upcoming series due to a lower back stress fracture during England’s victory over Ireland on Saturday.
The ECB approached other options including Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed, and Will Jacks, but the final decision was taken with Moeen making his comeback for the first two LV= Insurance Men’s Ashes Test matches against Australia starting at Edgbaston on Friday 16 June 2023. Ali has reversed his decision after his discussion with Test Captain Ben Stokes, Test Head Coach Brendon McCullum, and Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket Rob Key.
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Earlier, Rob Key, the Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket said, “We reached out to Mo (Moeen Ali) early this week about returning to Test cricket. Having had a couple of days to reflect, Mo is excited to join the squad and play Test cricket again. His vast experience, along with his all-round ability, will benefit our Ashes campaign. We wish Mo and the rest of the squad well for the Ashes campaign.”
Notably, Ali has scored 2,914 runs in the Test format along with 195 wickets. Here’s the England squad for the forthcoming tournament: Ben Stokes (C), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.