Moeen Ali is close to suiting up for England in their egg-whites as he is considering a return to test cricket.
The all-rounder is said to be very interested in joining England’s red-ball revolution under their new test coach Brendon McCullum and their new captain Ben Stokes.
A mainstay of the limited-overs squad, Moeen Ali bid farewell to test cricket in 2021 after taking 195 wickets with his off-breaks and scoring 2,914 runs in 64 Tests, citing a lack of motivation.
With the squad for England’s series against New Zealand already announced, Moeen Ali may come back into the fold against South Africa in August.
On their last visit to England four years ago, Ali scored 252 runs and took 25 wickets at 15, including a hat-trick at The Oval.
With England set to play three Tests in Pakistan this winter, McCullum may want as many spin-bowling options as possible.
Also in contention to return under McCullum are Adil Rashid and Jos Buttler.
Rashid has not played a first-class match of any kind – including for Yorkshire – since the Bridgetown Test of January 2019.
Buttler was dropped after a disappointing Ashes series, with Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow on duty for next week’s first Test against New Zealand, but has been in electric form in domestic franchise cricket.
