Ashes 2023: ECB take note of UK PM Rishi Sunak's 'SOS' call, recalls retired superstar

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak expressed concern over England’s squad for the Ashes 2023 series. On his way to the United States, the UK PM spoke to reporters and shed his thoughts on Jack Leach’s injury ahead of the exciting five-Test series against Australia. On being asked who can replace Leach on the side, Mr. Sunak said he hopes Moeen Ali comes out of retirement from Test cricket.

"I'm focussed on who’s going to replace Jack Leach for the Ashes, which is more the concerning issue on my mind at the moment. That’s tough. Either send the SOS for Moeen Ali, or indeed that 18-year-old who played that one Test, is it Rehan Ahmed, who had that one unbelievable game,” said UK PM Sunak as per The Sun. 35-year-old Ali retired from red-ball cricket in 2021 to manage his workload across formats. 

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Will Moeen Ali come out of retirement?

The star allrounder was asked to return from retirement by England captain Ben Stokes after Leach was dropped due to an injury. Ali is reportedly weighing up on the plea and is expected to take a decision on Wednesday. He took 195 Test wickets to his name in 64 games, while scoring 2914 runs in 111 innings during his time representing England in the longest format of the game.

Meanwhile, England vs Australia Ashes 2023 series is scheduled to begin on June 16, days after Pat Cummins’ led face India in the ICC World Test Championship 2023 Final. Rohit Sharma and co. are set to face the Aussies, eyeing the biggest prize in Test cricket at The Oval from June 7 onwards. India has made it to the ICC WTC final for the second time in a row, after their previous encounter against New Zealand in the championship match of the first WTC cycle held in 2021.

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England vs Australia: Full squads for Ashes 2023

England- Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Jack Leach, Jonathan Bairstow

Australia– Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Scott Boland, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green