English all-rounder Moeen Ali has decided to call it quits in the long form of cricket. Ali retires after compiling 2914 runs at an average of 28.29, composing five centuries and fourteen half-centuries along the way. The off-spinner also clinched 195 wickets at an average of 36.66 including a career-best 6/53.
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. You try your best. I just found it really hard to get in the zone bowling, batting, and in the field. And 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 atmosphere felt really good. It was really nice to be back in the dressing room. But I just found cricketing-wise it was a bit of a struggle.
Moeen Ali