“I clearly told Brendon McCullum I don’t want to be stuck in hotels for long periods,” Moeen Ali reveals why he retired from test cricket for the second time
Moeen Ali, after retiring from test cricket under Joe Root, had made himself available to play test cricket under McCullum and Stokes at the start of this English summer, but he retired again recently
The England allrounder Moeen Ali, who recently captained England to a 4-3 series victory in T20 internationals against Pakistan in Pakistan, has made it quite clear that he is taking back his statement that he had given during the English summer about his availability in test cricket for England.
Moeen Ali, after retiring from test cricket during Joe Root’s captaincy, made himself available to play test cricket again when Brendon McCullum took charge as the head coach of England. McCullum, reportedly, needed Moeen’s services for the test tour of Pakistan which will take place in December this year.
But, Moeen has changed his mind again after giving assurance to McCullum during the summer. The veteran off-spinner wrote a column in an English newspaper named Daily mail where he revealed that McCullum gave him a phone call recently to confirm his availability and he let him know that he would not be available to play any of the upcoming test series.
Test cricket requires hard work both on and off the field: Moeen Ali
According to Moeen Ali, who has played 64 test matches for England, test cricket is very different from the other formats of the game. It demands a lot of hard work from a cricketer, not just on the field, but off it as well and being in his mid 30s now, he doesn’t want to put himself through situations where he has to spend long periods in the hotels away from home.
Moeen Ali said, "I've had an honest chat with Brendon McCullum over the phone call, we spoke at length and I said 'Sorry, I’m done'. Test cricket is hard work". (To Daily Mail).
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 5, 2022
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Moeen wrote that he spoke his mind with all honesty to the head coach of England and conveyed to him quite clearly that he doesn’t think he can give test cricket a second crack again, as he had agreed to do in the summer.
Moeen Ali, during this English winter, will be playing in the UAE T20 league for which he signed a contract long time back. The allrounder will be representing the Sharjah franchise in the league.
