Moeen Ali retires from Test cricket again after Ashes 2023: 'If Stokes messages again, I'm going to delete it'

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Star England all-rounder Moeen Ali announced his retirement from Test cricket after the completion of Ashes 2023 on Monday. Ali picked three crucial wickets in the second innings of the fifth and final Test against Australia to help England salvage a thrilling 2-2- draw in Stuart Broad's last international match.

Notably, Moeen Ali first announced his retirement from Test cricket in September 2021 but came out of it after SOS message from Ben Stokes post Jack Leach's injury.

The 36-year-old suffered finger injury because of playing red-ball cricket after a long gap and was ruled out for the second Test but made a successful comeback again to play four out of the five matches. He scored 180 runs at an average of 25.71 and picked nine wickets as well. He played all his roles beautifully including batting at number three in the first innings of the final Test to score 34 off 47 balls.

Post the completion of the series, Ali announced his retirement and joked that he would delete captain Stokes' message if he asks him to come out of retirement once again. England's next Test assignment is against India in 2024.

"If I get a message from Stokesy again, I'm going to delete it," Moeen told the BBC after the Oval Test match.

The southpaw expressed a lot of happiness and said that he was satisfied to play his best cricket against Australia. He said he relished playing with James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood for one last time in Test cricket.

"It feels amazing. To come back was obviously a little bit daunting because I've never played that well against Australia and it was one of those things when Stokesy asked me I thought: "Why not, I'm going to go into a brillant side and I still believe I can do alright," and it's just great to be back part of this amazing team," Ali added.

"I'm so glad I came back and said yes. Just from the first day I came back into the changing room with Baz and Stokesy and to play again with Broad and Jimmy and Woody, it's been amazing and I'm chuffed that I can finish with a win against Australia with a bit of a helping hand," he told.

"They brought the best out of me but I am not complaining. I've had a good run and I have really enjoyed playing Test cricket with England and representing everyone in this country. It's been amazing," Ali, who played 68 Test matches to score over 3000 runs and pick 204 wickets, said.