England were recently dealt with a huge blow as their left-arm spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the entire Ashes series. He sustained a back stress fracture after the Test match against Ireland and since then, the team is looking to replace Leach for the Ashes series. Meanwhile, it has been understood that star all-rounder Moeen Ali is considering a comeback to the Test format after the management has asked him to do so. Notably, Moeen Ali recently won the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Chennai Super Kings under MS Dhoni's captaincy and also bowled decently picking up nine wickets at an average of around 21.
Moeen himself confirmed the development to ESPNCricinfo stating that the England Cricket's management approached him to consider coming back to the format and play in the Ashes. The off-spinner has played 64 Test matches scoring 2914 runs at an average of 28.29 with 5 centuries and has also picked 195 wickets. His comeback will also strengthen England's already strong batting and increase its depth as well.
Moeen had announced his retirement post the Test series against India back in September 2021. But during the IPL, he had conceded that his bowling coming back to its best. "I actually feel like there's things I've been missing over the last couple of years. I've just started to get it back again: a bit of rhythm in my action.
"When I was playing Test matches, I always felt like I was bowling well in white-ball cricket. You can kind of lose that rhythm, I guess. I think I've got to have that mindset of still bowling with that same energy as I would have done in Test matches," Moeen had said.
Earlier, even Stuart Broad spoke highly of Moeen Ali's qualities while distancing himself from the talks of latter's comeback from retirement. "We know Mo is a phenomenal cricketer and someone who would fit into Stokes and Baz's philosophy beautifully. I don't know if he's being considered by the selectors or if he would consider red-ball cricket again. But he's a mighty fine cricketer," Broad said.
