In the aftermath of a ruthless cull of the white ball side, Moeen Ali recently announced his retirement from international cricket following a 10 year career for his country.
With just shy of 300 games for England in all formats, Ali retired as a World Cup winner, T20 World Cup winner and even got his hands on the Ashes in 2015.
Despite the accolades, the runs and the wickets, some may look at Moeen and wonder whether England could have got more from the Warwickshire and Worcestershire all-rounder.
It seems odd to say for a man who is one of only 16 ever to have over 200 wickets and 3000 runs in Tests but Moeen has been used, more often than not, as a utility player - fitting in wherever he was needed.
Initially, when England honours came calling in 2014, it was off the back of his batting exploits for Worcestershire. Reeling from a 5-0 hammering in an away Ashes series, England were seeking a reset and Moeen came into the side as part of this.
In the Tests since Graeme Swann’s retirement, England had used Monty Panesar and Scott Borthwick without standout success. Selection strategy began to move to a focus on batting with less attention paid towards a specialist spinner. Despite earning his place as a batter, his part-time off-spin (as it was then) meant that Moeen had already been earmarked as a utility player. As a result, when England thought they’d found a replacement, he was often moved to a new role or dropped entirely. The replacements rarely lasted long.
In his first Test, Ali batted 6 but over the course of his career would bat in every position from opener to number 9. Much of his career was spent under the captaincy of Alistair Cook and during a punditry stint with the former England captain, Moeen did hint that perhaps Cook's captaincy did not suit him entirely. Ultimately, a call from Ben Stokes last year on the eve of the Ashes and an opportunity to play under his stewardship was enough to reverse his retirement decision. With a clear plan in mind and a captaincy style Moeen felt he could thrive in, he returned one last time to the Test set up.
If before that first call up you’d had taken a trip to your local soothsayer and in a moment of working out what to ask, you’d enquired about how England’s new number 6 would end his career - an average of 28 would not be hugely encouraging.
It is the context of his career though which explains what is not the most inspiring average.
Firstly, the aforementioned fact that England batted him everywhere over the course of his career meant that he was never able to settle and develop his game from a regularly recognised spot. As his career developed and he could make the side as a spinner, his batting became an additional plus and therefore was assumed to be able to fill every and any holes in the batting line up.
Secondly, his bowling itself took a toll on his batting once he began to focus on it which unless you’re Jacques Kallis happens to everyone. Moeen didn’t picture himself as the bowling all rounder but with lack of other options, he covered a real dearth of English spin bowling until the arrival of Jack Leach into the side.
Thirdly, this was also not a period of great English batting. Over the same period, specialist batters like Jos Buttler, Nick Compton, James Vince and Joe Denly came and were trialled in the side for extended periods and then were dropped all averaging at around the same mark that Moeen was without the extra benefit he could provide with the ball.
In the white ball side his exploits returned more silverware and his all rounder capabilities were far more indispensable to the England white ball Golden Generation.
From time to time within that set up his captaincy was called upon too and he is still considered to be one of the great white ball tacticians and captains within the game currently. He can consider himself unlucky that the full time captaincy gig never came to him for England.
Moeen is a great team man. From the lists provided above, many in the same boat may have retired and given up with a side who never made the most of his potential long ago.
His willingness to come back to the Test side for the Ashes last year when the call came was testament to his commitment to the side. That was a call that he could quite easily (and perhaps with good reason) have not taken…but he did.
Moeen will continue his cricket, lighting up the T20 circuit including for the Joburg Super Kings
With Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow dropped from the white ball team and Dawid Malan calling time on his own England career, there is a clear selection call being made that is moving further away from the old guard. Moeen was a victim of this but even so, remains magnanimous in this decision.
He will be always fondly remembered by England fans for his exploits on the field but perhaps won't be remembered so well for the selfless role he played throughout his career for his country.
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