Moeen Ali

Moeen Munir Ali is an English cricketer who has been a part of England's national Men's cricket team since 2014. He was born in Birmingham on 18 June 1987. Ali was part of England’s 2019 World Cup squad which lifted the title for the first time.

Moeen Ali Biography

Ali is of Kashmiri descent and it was two generations ago that his grandfather migrated to England. His grandparents lived in Mirpur. His grandmother Betty Cox, was of British origin. Other than English, Moeen can also understand Urdu and Punjabi.

He is often fondly called ‘the beard that's feared’ by his fans at the New Road. Ali's father was a taxi driver, and a psychiatric nurse. He was friends with cricketers Kabir Ali who was also his first cousin, Naqash Tahir, and Rawait Khan and they grew up together on the same street. His brothers Kadeer Ali and Omar Ali are also cricketers.

On the domestic level, Moeen plays first class cricket for Worcestershire. Moeen also plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. Moeen is a left-handed batsman and bowls right-arm off spinner.

Ali is widely popular for his beautifully concealed arm ball. Moeen was part of the victorious England squad in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Moeen Ali - Along the Years

Records

Moeen Ali’s Test records:

• Scored 1000 runs and took 100 wickets

• Scored 250 runs and took 20 wickets in a single series

• 8th highest number of catches taken in a match (4)

• 9th best strike-rate in a single inning (238.88)

Moeen Ali’s ODI records:

• 5th best strike-rate in a single inning (344.44)

Moeen Ali’s T20 records:

• Highest consecutive number of ducks (3)

• 8th highest number of ducks in the entire career (9)

• 10th on the list of most player of the match awards received (9)

• 10th on the list of biggest partnership for the third wicket (135)

Awards, Accolades and Nominations

1. Moeen Ali was nominated for the Best at Sport award at the British Muslim Awards in January 2015.
2. Moeen Ali won Warwickshire's NBC Denis Compton Award consecutively in 2004 and 2005.
3. In 2009, Moeen Ali won Worcestershire’s NBC Denis Compton Award.

Career

Domestic Career

Moeen was signed by Warwickshire at an age of 15. Moeen cemented his place in the team hitting a half-century for the county's Second XI in the early days of his career at Warwickshire. Following which he played U19 cricket against Bangladesh and Indian cricket team.

Moeen made his first class debut in 2005 against Cambridge University. Moeen succeeded to impress with the bat, scoring 57 unbeaten in his only innings. He played his first List A games in 2006. At a List A game against Derbyshire claimed his maiden first-class wicket by dismissing Steffan Jones to claim his maiden first-team wicket.

Ali moved to Worcestershire making his debut for in 2007. He also scored his highest first-class score of 250 against Glamorganfor Worcestershire.

Moeen Ali started playing for Mohammedan Sporting Club in the Ispahani Premier Divison of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan suggested him to join the club after Moeen wasn’t picked at the end of the English season of 2010. Shakib also played for Worcestershire in 2010 and that’s where both had met.

In the 2011 season, Moeen was chosen as the acting captain of Worcestershire as Daryl Mitchell, the designated captain was injured. He struck his first century of the season in July. However, his score of 158 wasn’t enough to save the match against Somerset as the team suffered an innings defeat.

In the first season back in the first division for Worcestershire, Moeen ended up with 930 runs in the County Championship and stood up as the second-highest run getter for the club, just behind Vikram Solanki. Ali struck one century and averaged 33.21 in the tournament.

In the 2013 season, Moeen scored 1375 runs at an average of 62 in Divison 2. This was the best achieved by any batsmen in first-class cricket. Moeen took a total of 28 wickets alongside 4 fifties and 8 tons in his batting. After this, England Development squad called him up before the Ashes tour to Australia.

Appointed as the skipper in 2018, Moeen took the Rapids to a championship victory in the Vitality Blast. The year 2019 saw Meen as the captain of a Worcester team which was really close on retaining their T20 Blast title but ended up losing to Essex Eagles on the last ball.

Ali as the captain was a key player in the team’s road to the final.He scored an unbeaten knock of 85 in the group stage against the Birmingham Bears. He brought up a brilliant century in the quarter-final match against the 2018 runners up, Sussex Sharks.

In the semi-final, the team squared off aginst Nottinghamshire Outlaws. Finals Day 2019 saw a brilliant comeback from the Rapids after they went out to defend a target of 147 runs. With 11 required of the last two overs, the Outlaws were in the driver’s seat but Ali’s side made a great turnaround as the batting side lost three wickets in the penultimate over. With 2 runs needed of the final ball, Ben Duckett, the on-strike batsman swung the bat only to miss it and the Rapids progressed to the finals.

With 82/5, Worcestershire were in a comfortable position and were predicted to become the first side ever to retain the Vitality Blast Trophy. However, much to the Rapids disappointment Essex Ragles successfully scored 12 runs in the final over and lifted their first T20 Blast Trophy.

IPL Career

Moeen Ali made his IPL debut with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018. He played well with both the bat and the ball in what turned out to be a disappointing campaign for his team. He was one of the few players retained by the franchise for the 2019 season.

In 2021, Chennai Super Kings bought the English all-rounder for 7 crore rupees. In the 15 matches for the franchise, Ali scored 357 runs and took 6 wickets in the season and was an important player in the team’s fourth title win. He was retained by CSK in the 2022 Mega Auction and scored 244 runs in 10 games, not to forget the 8 wickets he picked.

International Career

ODI Career

Ali made his One Day International debut on 28 February, 2014 against the West Indies cricket team. On his debut game, Ali scored 44 runs and even took his maiden ODI wicket. Ali impressed in the third match of the series as well, when he scored his first half-century.

Ali was a part of the England's 2015 World Cup campaign in Australia. Ali scored his first World Cup century in the second match against Scotland, making 128 from 107 balls. However, Ali was ruled out of England's final World Cup game against Afghanistan.

Moeen has been an integral part of England's ODI squad since then. He played a crucial role in England's victorious 2019 World Cup Campaign.

On 21 June 2019, Ali played his 100th ODI match for England in the game against Sri Lanka. In July 2020, Moeen was made a part of the 24-man English squad to begin training behind closed doors for the ODI series against Ireland. A few days later, Mooen was appointed as the vice-captain for the ODI series.

Since then, Ali has featured in 15 ODI games for England in the past two years. He scored 87 runs in 6 games in 2021 at an average of 29. This year hasn’t been to great as well, He has played 9 games in 2022, and has scored only 146 runs as of now

Test Career

Moeen Ali made his Test debut for England against Sri Lanka cricket team in 2014. He was able to meet everyone's expectations when he made 48 runs in the first inning. Moeen was in sublime form in the second Test of the series, when he scored his maiden century and revived a struggling England who were crushed to 57 for 5. Moeen's efforts however ended in a losing cause.

Moeen featured in the Test series against India. At the very first match of the series, Ali took four wickets in the match. Ali proved his worth and cemented his position as a member of England's Test squad.

Over the years Moeen has produced excellent and match-defining performances for England in Tests.

Moeen featured in the Test series against India. At the very first match of the series, Ali took four wickets in the match. He scored 30+ in both the innings of the next game but England ended up losing the match. In the third Test encounter at the Ageas Bowl, Ali picked up his first five-wicket haul in Test match cricket with the figures of 6/67 in the second innings. He then picked four wickets in the next match including the big wicket of MS Dhoni.

In the 2015 Ashes series, Ali shined with the bat in the first match by scoring 77 runs in the first innings and even picked up two wickets in Australia’s first innings. He followed it up by taking 3/59 i the second innings and England won the match. He then had an average series with not much opportunities to bowl and scored a few knocks of 30 with the bat.

In the 2016 Test series, Ali went to back to his original position of playing in the lower order against South Africa. Although he failed with the bat but took a combined 7 wickets in the two innings which helped England win the opening match. Moeen was adjudged Player of the match.

The next three games went average for the Englishman as he continued to struggle in both the departments except from a fifty that he scored in the final Test. England won the series 2-1 against the Proteas.

Mooen scored an unbeaten 155 in the second test against Sri Lanka, a vital innings which helped England score big in the first innings, helping them seal the win.

In the opening Test against India, Ali struck a beautiful 117 as England scored a mammoth 537 as their first innings total. He took 2/85 and 1/47 in the two batting innings of India. The match ended in a draw. He took 3 wickets in the next test but failed with the bat in both the innings and England lost by 246 runs.

Third Test was again a failure as he wasn’t able to go big with the bat or ball. In the fourth Test, he managed to score a half-century and took 2/174 with the ball in the first innings. He got out without scoring a run and England lost the game.

The final match saw Ali’s return of form and he scored 146 with the bat in the first innings. He gout outfor 44 in the second innings. Moeen’s contributions went in vain and England lost the series 4-0 to India.

In the 2017 Test series agains the Proteas, Moeen Ali reached the 2000-run mark alongside picking 100 wickets in Test in just 38 matches, making him the fifth fastest to achieve this milestone. He also took his first ten-wicket haul in Test match cricket and became the second English player to score a fifty and take 10 wickets in the same match after Ian Bothom.

In the third Test against the South Africans, Ali ended the match by taking a hat-trick, the first for an England spinner since 1938-39 and also the first hat-trick at The OVal. This was only the third occasion in Test history where a match had ended with a hat-trick, first time in 115 years. Also, this was the first hat-trick which included all three left-hand batsmen to be dismissed.

In the fourth encounter, he made 75 in the second innings and took a five-wicket haul for the second consecutive match and helped England win the match. He became the first-ever player to score 250 runs and take 25 wickets in a four match Test series.

Moeen Ali took retirement from Test match cricket for England in September 2021. In the 64 matchs that he played, Ali scored 2914 runs at an average of 28.29. He also scored 5 centuries and 14 half-centuries in his Test career. He had 195 wickets to his name including 5 five-wicket hauls and a 10-wicket match.

T20 International Career

Mooen Ali made his T20 debut in the second game of series against the West Indies. He wasn’t given the chance to bowl and got out cheaply for just 3 runs. Ali was included in the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup squad and scored 49 runs in 4 games without taking any wicket.

He was again selceted in the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup in India. He took a wicket each against the Windies and Afghnaistan and even scored an important knock of 41 runs against the latter to keep their hopes of semi-final qualification alive.

He broke the record of the highest 8th wicket partnership in a T20 World Cup game in the same match. He partnered with Dvid Willey and added 57* runs in the same match. In the semi-final game, he picked up 1/10 against the Kiwis. In the final against the West Indies, Moeen went back to the pavilion without scoring a run and did not bowl any overs in a match where England ended up on the losing side.

In September 2020, Ali took England’s captaincy in a T20I match against Australia in Southampton. With this, he became the first Asian-origin captain of the T20 side for England and the first Asian-origin Captain to lead England in any format since Nasser Hussain in 2003.

In 2021, Ali won the “Player of the match” award in the second T20I against Pakistan. He was named in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup squad and scored 92 runs along with 7 wickets in the 6 games.

He was appointed vice-captain of the T20 side for the West Indies tour in 2022. He captained the team in the third, fourth and fifth T20I due to Eoin Morgan’s injury.

In the 65 T20I games for England, Moeen has taken 40 wickets and has 987 runs to his name.

Moeen Ali: Wristband Controversy

Moeen Ali found himself amidst a controversy during day 2 of the third Test match of the 2014 series against India, when he wore "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine" wristbands in connection to the Gaza conflict. The ICC code bars players from "conveying messages which relate to political, religious or racial activities or causes".

The ECB however came to Ali's support stating that - Moeen's stance was "humanitarian, not political.'' An English Cricket Board spokesman even stated that "the ECB do not believe he has committed any offence". However, ECB's clearance to Moeen to wear the bands were overruled by the match referee David Boon.

Moeen Ali : Charity Work

Moeen Ali is the Ambassador of StreetChance. It is a programme which provides free weekly cricket coaching sessions to deprived areas in the UK. The programme is run by the Cricket Foundation and Barclays Spaces For Sports.

Moeen is also a member of the Orphans in Need NGO and also acts their Global Brand Ambassador. Moeen even carries the charity's logo on his bat.

In one of his interviews, Moeen said-

“I enjoy coming back to the community where I grew up playing tape ball cricket. It keeps you grounded. I hope that, as an ambassador for the charity, I can pass on some useful advice and help inspire children like the ones here today involved in StreetChance. It’s so important that schemes like StreetChance give young people the opportunity to play cricket and to learn key life skills, wherever they’re from, whatever their background."

Family

Moeen Ali is of Indian-Kashmiri decent. It was his grandfather who moved to England two generations ago. Moeen's father Munir Ali is a Psychiatric Nurse. His brothers, Omar Ali and Kadeer Ali are also cricketers and play English County cricket.

Moeen is married to Firoza Hossain. Little is known about his spouse other than the fact that she is perhaps a Bangladeshi, although that also hasn't been confirmed yet.

Moeen is a devout Muslim who abides by the laws of Quran and doesn't smoke or drink alcohol. During his early days of struggle, Moeen found his biggest supporter in his father who used to sell chicken from his Toyota to help him pursue his dream.

Also see - Jos Butler biography

He is a very religious person and his county team of Worcestershire even provided him with a special prayer room. In the past, Moeen has shown concern about British Muslims joining terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS and has tried to raise awareness towards the same.

Moeen belongs to a very simple family with strong religious background. After retiring from cricket Moeen wants to own a chip shop and name it 'Big Mo's' and do mosque work.