London: All-rounder Moeen Ali called the curtains on a solid international career on Sunday morning. Following his announcement, England’s all-time top run-scorer in Test cricket and ex-captain Alastair Cook hailed Moeen as the ‘most selfless player to play for England.
"Moeen was probably the most selfless player to play for England. He would do anything the team required, probably to the hindrance of his career, he batted from one to eight. He was picked as a batter but the amount he developed his bowling was amazing. He was also much tougher than people realised. In clutch moments, he was a gutsy cricketer. He was one of the great teammates,” said Alastair Cook on BBC’s Test Match Special.
Moeen made his white-ball debut for England on their 2014 tour of West Indies and went on to play 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is for the country in his 10-year career. He made his Test debut at the Lord's against Sri Lanka, and represented England in 68 Tests overall. He finishes with 6,678 runs, including eight centuries and 28 fifties, and 366 wickets for England across the three formats.
His outings see him retire as England’s third most successful spinner in Test Cricket with 204 wickets, only behind Derek Underwood (297) and Graeme Swann (255).
Ali’s last time representing England came at the 2024 T20 World Cup following which he was left out of the squad that will face Australia in a three-game T20I series in September.
"I'm very proud. When you first play for England, you don't know how many games you're going to play. So to play nearly 300. My first few years were all about Test cricket. Once Morgs (Eoin Morgan) took over the one-day stuff, that was more fun. But Test cricket was the proper cricket," Moeen told Daily Mail.