Spin allrounder Moeen Ali confirmed his Test match days are finally officially over as the experienced cricketer put his own amusing style to play to suggest if ever skipper Ben Stokes queries over his availability again, he would erase the message.
The 36-year-old was referring to Stokes’ famous pre-Ashes 2023 Whatsapp message where the England captain ended up pulling him out of two-year backdated retirement to commit to the Test side one last time.
The skipper had to go out of the league to make the decision as England were left undone by a last-minute injury to first-choice tweaker Jack Leach and weren’t confident of other possible replacements given their inexperience and lack of control.
The captain’s persuasive qualities came to great use for England as Moeen not only bowled his heart out but also allowed the three lions to retain their preferred batting order by selflessly taking on the unsuited role of a No.3 following injury to Ollie Pope.
As England denied Australia an elusive Test series win in the United Kingom by clinching a comprehensive victory at The Oval in the fifth Test on Monday, Moeen was seen shouldering arms with just-retired legend Stuart Broad and leading the rest of the line-up out of the park with them.
That was a sign of Moeen, too, calling it quits once and for all, and he did put a formal seal on it, speaking with the broadcasters at the sidelines of the post-match presentation ceremony.
“That’s me done. If Ben Stokes texts me, I’ll delete it,” he joked to Sky Sports with Stokes’ pre-Ashes message reference even as Stokes in his post-match interaction with Michael Atherton had said: “We’ll let Moeen reflect on everything and make his decision about the India series.”
But the decision seems taken by the cricketer on an individual level after coming in and contributing through the Ashes. Moeen, who took 9 wickets and scored 180 runs after an unexpected promotion up the order, will not be travelling to India for the five-match Test series in February-March and has formally hung his boots from the longest format.
