England's allrounder Moeen Ali has confirmed that the recently culminated 5th Ashes Test at The Oval which happened to be his 68th in the longest format of the game will remain his last after he chipped in with three crucial wickets during the 4th innings of the same and helped England draw the series.
Moeen Ali had retired from Test cricket in September 2021 following an away series against India but was asked by none other than the English red-ball skipper Ben Stokes to come out of retirement and lead the spin attack for the hosts in the Ashes series against arch-rivals Australia after their lead spinner Jack Leach got ruled of the series due to a lower back stress fracture. The injury to Leach was big enough to put England's Ashes campaign into jeopardy and hence Stokes requested Moeen to feature in the series.
Moeen played a monumental role alongside his teammates to deny Australia a historic series win as he dismissed Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, and Australia's skipper Pat Cummins in the fourth innings of The Oval Test.
After the Three Lions won the last Test of the series on Monday, July 31, Moeen spoke to Sky Sports and mentioned that he won't be donning the whites for England again. He was sent an SOS message (a globally recognized distress signal in which the letters SOS are repeatedly spelled out) by Stokes at the beginning of the series. Moeen, 36, recalled the same and affirmed in a humorous way that he won't give into any similar requests going ahead in his playing career.
"If Stokesy messages me again, I'm going to delete it. That's me done. I really have enjoyed it, and it's great to finish on it," told Moeen.
Having not bowled for longer periods of time leading into the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, Moeen was suddenly asked to do the heavy lifting and it took a toll on his bowling finger, splitting it open. As a result of the same, the team management was forced to bench him for the 2nd Test at Lord's.
He got the big scalps of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne on his return at Headingley in the 3rd Test and slammed a good-looking half-century in the 4th before he injured his groin in the final Test at The Oval.
