England all-rounder Moeen Ali announced to hang up his boots from international cricket, bringing curtains down on an illustrious 10-year career.
“I’m 37 years old and didn’t get picked for this month’s Australia series,” Moeen said in a Daily Mail interview.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket for England. It’s time for the next generation, which was also explained to me. It felt like the time was right. I’ve done my part.”
The Birmingham-born left-handed batter and right-arm spinner has played in 68 tests, 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for England since 2014, with his last international appearance in June.
He has scored five centuries in tests and three in ODIs, also taking 366 wickets across all three formats.
Moeen Ali was part of England’s squad during their successful ODI World Cup in 2019 and T20 World Cup in 2022.
Ali, who holds the England record for the fastest half-century in T20Is having reached fifty in 16 balls against South Africa in 2022, said he was proud of his international career.
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“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…I know they were the best days of my life,” he said.
“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.
“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.”
The all-rounder also announced that he will continue to play franchise cricket across the globe and will look forward to taking coaching roles in the future.
“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,” he added.
“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.”
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