Moeen Ali retires from international cricket

England allrounder Moeen Ali has announced his retirement from international cricket after being overlooked for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia.

The 37-year-old Ali said in an interview with British newspaper The Daily Mail that it was “time for the next generation.”

“I’m 37 years old and didn’t get picked for this month’s Australia series,” Moeen told the newspaper. “I’ve played a lot of cricket for England. It’s time for the next generation, which was also explained to me. It felt the time was right. I’ve done my part.”

The all-rounder last represented England in their semi-final loss to India at the 2024 T20 World Cup in Guyana.

Moeen made his white-ball debut for England on their 2014 tour of West Indies and went on to play 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for the country in his 10-year career. When Sri Lanka visited England later that year, Moeen made his Test debut at the Lord’s, and represented England in 68 overall. He finishes with 6678 runs, including eight centuries and 28 fifties, and 366 wickets for England across the three formats. Apart from these, Ali witnessed two World Cup victories in both shorter forms.

He said he still feels like he can compete at the highest level, but was “trying to be realistic” about his international future.

“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.

“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.”

Moeen also said that he will continue playing franchise cricket, and could later see himself getting involved in coaching. 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.”

Over the last year, Moeen was also in action at the IPL for CSK, a part of the SA20 for Joburg Super Kings and in the BPL with Chittagong Vikings.