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According to recent reports, Moeen Ali has expressed that he is willing to come out of retirement and play Test cricket, especially with the arrival of England’s new red ball coach, Brendon McCullum. As reported by the Daily Mail, a source close to Ali talked about how he has a lot of respect towards McCullum and is willing to help him.
The source was quoted saying, “He respects Brendon immensely and would play for him. He’s always been committed to England and wishes to continue. He will assist when required.” Brendon McCullum, when asked about Moeen Ali’s situation said, "We’ll see. I’m sure if Mo wanted to, and was prepared to put the yards in to make it back into the side, then he’d challenge, no doubt."
McCullum was then asked about whether leg spinner Adil Rashid could make a comeback with his injury history and lowered interest in the format. “I’m not sure someone like Adil would play every game every year anyway,” he said. “But my mentality is, if they’re the best cricketers, why not have conversation and see where you get to?”
"He’s one of those players you look at instantly and think: “How could he be so dominant in one form of the game and not quite have found his feet, other than a few fleeting performances, in Test cricket?”, said McCullum.
The former New Zealand player also opened up his ideology coming into this job as he has promised players like Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali, Liam, Livingstone etc some proper playing time that helps in building confidence.
He said, “I look at all of those guys and think there’ll be a time where they may get an opportunity if they’re invested enough. There’s probably been a bit of hurt at times for them because they’ve been in and out of the team and there hasn’t been that persistence for them.”
“They have all played international cricket before, been successful in the other forms of the game and you’d think they’d be able to transition across. If you’ve got some of these other guys wanting to play, banging the door down with their own performances, then you’ve got a team who can dominate at the top.”