England’s spin all-rounder Moeen Ali explained the reason and the rationale behind his decision to quit Test cricket at the age of 34.
On Monday, Moeen opted to call time on his international career in Test whites despite having returned to the side only earlier this year following an extended absence since the summer of 2019.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, the cricketer cited the realisation over his inability to fully concentrate in the Test game on a comeback after playing only limited-overs cricket for two full years as one major reason behind his decision.
This realisation hit Moeen hard during the third Test against India in Headingley, as he tried hard but failed to get himself into that “zone” where he is contributing to the best of his abilities for England. Moeen bowled two overs for four and made just eight runs in England’s innings victory over the tourists.
“I felt like I was done, to be honest. I was hoping to play the last Test – there were a couple of milestones I wanted to pass – but once that game got called off, I realised that was it.”
“Headingley was a great win but I just found I couldn’t concentrate. I’ve played rash shots before and had poor games before. But I just felt like I wasn’t in it. I’ve never felt that before. It’s not that I didn’t want to perform, I just didn’t feel like I was fully wholeheartedly into it,”
he told ESPNcricinfo.
Moeen further explained this struggle to get into that “zone” in a Test match, saying:
“The more I tried, I just couldn’t do it. In the past when I came back into the team, it might take a bit of time but then I’m all in. But that series, I just couldn’t do it.”
The off-spinner and left-hand batter added while it was “nice” to be back in the England Test squad and dressing room, he found it a “struggle” on the cricketing front.
Moeen admitted that being sacked from the Test side after one poor game at the start of the 2019 Ashes and then losing his full central contract with ECB, did lead him “on a different path” from the rest of the Test side. The cricketer pursued opportunities in franchise cricket and began focusing solely on the white-ball arena for England as well.
Moeen gave an account of his side of the story in this regard and said he had an unideal build-up to the 2019 Ashes at home. The off-spinner bowled a total of 26 balls in the one-off Test versus Ireland preceding the challenge for the urn and couldn’t practise outdoors for the first Ashes Test in Edgbaston because of the rain.
Left out of the side, Moeen also took an indefinite break from Tests and kept playing the limited-overs game for England, in the IPL and in other leagues. And even though he announced his break was over back in 2020, the selectors and the management didn’t pick him until the tour of India this year, where he played only one of the four Tests on a turner in Chennai.
By then, however, Moeen was already on a “different path” with his game, he said:
“I didn’t play enough first-class cricket and by the time I did get back into the team for that one Test in Chennai, I was on a different path. I don’t think I lost interest in Test cricket but I think I lost the ability to do it as best as you can.”
Moeen said he would’ve loved to go to the Ashes tour Down Under later this winter and resurrect the flaws of the previous trip but the realisation that “I couldn’t do it for that long” was too big for him to ignore.
