Moeen Ali has been awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket in the Queen’s birthday honors.
The latest round of honors marks the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday celebrations to celebrate 70 years of service.
Joining Moeen Ali on the OBE lists are Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead and ex-Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand.
Gareth Bale of Wales finds himself upgraded to the list of people granted an MBE during the Queen’s honors.
Speaking about the occasion Moeen acknowledged that his honor reflects his role-model status among the British Asian community that remains under-represented in the national team, having himself risen from community cricket in Sparkhill Park in Birmingham to make more than 200 appearances for his country across all three formats.
Ali also suggested that the reports of his return to test cricket are true with the appointment of Brendon McCullum playing an intriguing role in reconsideration.
The England and Worcestershire all-rounder announced his retirement from Test cricket in September 2021 but has been a mainstay for the limited-overs side and was part of the Twenty20 team to reach the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup.
He briefly has had stints as stand-in captain for the limited-over side in absence of Eoin Morgan.
He scored 2,914 runs and took 195 wickets in 64 Test matches, having made his debut against Sri Lanka in 2014.
