Moeen Ali retires from Test Cricket, hopes to inspire British Muslims to join England team

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has decided to bring down the curtain on his Test career. Ali officially confirmed on Monday that he is retiring from red-ball cricket. The southpaw said he is hopeful that his Test career will inspire and open the door for other British Muslims to represent England at the international level.

Moeen Ali shares vision post Test cricket retirement

“It always takes somebody to inspire you or takes somebody to think if he can do it I can and I hope there are a few people out there who are thinking that. I know he wasn’t English but someone like Hashim Amla, when I first saw him, I thought if he can do it I can do it, it does take that little spark. “I’d love one day in 8-10 years’ time to say Moeen made it easier for me. There have been guys before me who made it easier, so you hope to open the door for someone else", said Moeen Ali as quoted by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on their official website.

Moeen Ali age

Revealing the reason behind his decision to retire from the longest format of the game, 34-year-old Moeen Ali said that he wants to focus on playing cricket as much as he possibly can. From her on, Ali said, it would be all about enjoying the game.

 “I’m 34 now and I want to play for as long as I can and I just want to enjoy my cricket", he said.

Moeen Ali retirement a setback ahead of Ashes

With just a little over two months left for the all-important Ashes series against arch-rivals Australia, Moeen Ali's retirement has delivered a huge blow to England. Joe Root & Co. look forward to regaining the 'Urn' they had last won at home during the 2015/16 season.

As per reports, Ali, who has played 64 Test matches, is uncomfortable with the prospect of an extended time away from home in the coming months as a likely member of both the T20 World Cup and Ashes squads.

Moeen Ali retirement: A look at his cricketing career

Having started his Test career back in 2014 Moeen Ali has 195 wickets to his name, 28 Test victories and nine series wins. Had the final Test match against India at Manchester not been called off, Moeen Ali could have become just the 15th player in Test history to score 3,000 career runs and claim 200 wickets.

Ali will also finish his Test Career is just 84 runs and five wickets short of joining an elite group of cricketers that features the likes of Ian Botham, Imran Khan, and Garfield Sobers. The off-spinner will finish his career third on the list of spin bowlers to have taken Test wickets for England, behind Derek Underwood and Graeme Swann. 

The middle-order batsman's only Ashes series came back in Australia in the 2017-18 edition with the cricketer failing to impress with both bat and ball. The southpaw failed to register a half-century in the nine innings he played in the series.  After a strong start in Brisbane where he made 38 and 40, Moeen Ali just scored 101 runs for the remainder of The Ashes series. He bowled nearly 170 overs, managing just five scalps as the Aussies won the series 4-0.