Moeen Ali confirmed his re-retirement from Test cricket after a breathless final day of the 2023 Ashes, one that saw the all-rounder make his most pivotal contribution of the series, writes Yas Rana.
There cannot have been a more chaotic or mind-boggling series than the 2023 Ashes. From the very first ball to the last, taking in the switches in momentum, record run rates, disputes over the laws that prompted intervention from prime ministers and four genuinely thrilling finishes, it’s been breathless.
No player encapsulates the chaos quite like Moeen Ali’s series contribution. The story has been repeated countless times across the series but it bears repeating. When Jack Leach went down on the eve of the series, England turned to Moeen. A 36-year-old who has been happily hopping from one T20 tournament to another in relative anonymity; a Bangladesh Premier League stint here, an Abu Dhabi T10 competition there, accompanying his role as a valued lieutenant to Jos Buttler in the white-ball set-up. Last winter, Moeen became just one of a handful of players to have won both men’s limited overs World Cups, doing so while playing no more than a peripheral role with bat and ball. He was living a good life, well away from the occasionally unsavoury scrutiny that comes from playing Test cricket for England.
The injury to Leach threw England. He was one of only a handful of ever-presents under the Stokes regime and was arguably the player that was hardest to replace given the desperate shortage of specialist finger-spinners playing, let alone thriving, in the County Championship. The S.O.S was sent to Moeen. He replied, ‘lol’ and a week later he was playing at Edgbaston.
Two years after his last Test appearance and with just four first-class appearances in the four years since the 2019 Ashes behind him, here he was in the spotlight of the most anticipated Ashes series in a generation. There wasn’t a particularly long bedding in period either. Encountered by a docile Edgbaston pitch, Moeen bowled 33 first innings overs. Only once in his Test career had he delivered more in a home Test. It wasn’t massively surprising that given his lack of match practice, that first innings workload literally re-opened old wounds. His cut spinning finger, an injury that plagued him on the 2017/18 Ashes tour, hampered him to the extent that he wasn’t risked for the second Test at Lord’s.
At Headingley, he was back and by the second innings he was suddenly England’s No. 3 after Ollie Pope was ruled out of the series and the Harry Brook experiment lasted one innings. It didn’t really work – he scored five – but also sort of did, his presence at three delaying Brook’s entry point. Brook hit 75 and England kept the series alive. Moeen’s mere presence unlocking the best out of those around him.
After Headingley, Ben Stokes poured water over the idea that Moeen’s promotion to three would last more than one innings but you never really believed him. It made sense on a number of levels. It was where Moeen enjoyed considerable success in county cricket but crucially, it ensured England could stick to a balance of side that saw them include five bowlers as well as Stokes whose bowling over the final three Tests was limited to refining his off-spin before each day’s play with England assistant coach Jeetan Patel. He batted at three once more in Manchester where his 54 staved off the very real possibility of a top order implosion and laid the groundwork for the carnage that flowed from the blades of Crawley and Root. Injury had created two gaping holes in the England side, to their lead spinner and to their number three – Moeen Ali, out of retirement, plugged both gaps.
While he had moments with the ball – the dismissals of Labuschagne and Smith in quick succession in Leeds for example – Moeen was still without a standout performance with the ball. Bowling to Stokes’ unusually attacking fields that offer minimal protection for the occasional bad ball, Moeen created the odd moment but nothing more. And it looked like he wouldn’t get the chance to after he tweaked his groin batting in the first innings of the fifth Test. His series threatened to fizzle out.
He didn’t bowl in the Australia first innings so it was a surprise to see the ball tossed to him early on in the run chase. It was obvious that the groin niggle was hampering him. There was less energy in his action, his right leg wasn’t driving through as much as it usually does.
In his favour though was the turn on show. Todd Murphy got considerable action on the ball in the England second innings and with England’s seam attack, Woakes aside, looking toothless in the Australia run chase, Stokes turned back to Moeen on day five with Steve Smith and Travis Head beginning to put together a dangerous partnership. He quickly settled into his work, the drag downs reduced in frequency and on the stroke of lunch, he got one to bite off the surface enough to flick Smith’s glove on the way to Stokes at leg-slip. The plan had worked. Except, Stokes half-Gibbsed it, effectively kneeing the ball out of his own hand – the not out verdict confirmed after a comically optimistic review.
But Stokes had seen enough to stick with Moeen from the Vauxhall End after the rain delay. Moeen and Woakes, the two Brummie all-rounders out of the picture at the start of the summer, were the two men Stokes turned to prise out a fourth Australia wicket after the rain delay. The pair started well and bowled with threat but they were down on luck. Australia needed another 122 with seven wickets in hand, Moeen had figures of 0-42 and Cummins’ side were on course for a momentous victory to make the series scoreline 3-1. But then, the injured Moeen in his 13th over of the innings, got another delivery to rag out of the rough and turn into Joe Root’s hands at slips via a deflection off Head’s bat. It was a wicket that awoke the crowd and almost reminded them what was at stake.
Eight overs later, Australia are eight down and Moeen has three. At this point Moeen’s fourth innings average is marginally better than Warne’s (at the end of the innings it creeps up above Warne’s by three decimal points.) It was Woakes and Moeen who wedged the game open for England before Broad, in the most Broadian of ways, sealed the game and with it the limelight as he signed off the most remarkable of England careers.
It was a touch of class from Broad that he ensured that he walked off arm in arm with Moeen, who later confirmed that he would be, for at least the second time, re-retiring from Test cricket. It was a fitting end for Moeen who has been one of the most significant players of his generation. On the field he has filled a whole catalogue of roles with distinction. He has been an emergency opener, an emergency No. 3 and batted everywhere from one to nine. No. 4, statistically his best position for England, also happens to be where he’s batted least often. He became England’s frontline spinner almost by accident, earning selection through runs at three but forged a permanent role in the team on account of his fast improving off-breaks. Underwood and Swann are the only England spinners with more Test wickets. He said yes when England were in dire need of help, even though it was almost certainly going to bring with it a level of examination that he had seemingly left behind at this stage of his life. He is significant off the field, too, as a prominent Muslim role model in a sport that has an uncomfortable relationship with inclusion of those of all backgrounds.
For so long it looked like he’d never get the send-off he deserved. But today he did, walking off at the end of an epic Ashes series to the adulation of a packed house overflowing with gratitude.
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