Moeen Ali

Moeen Munir Ali (born 18 June 1987) is an English cricketer who serves as vice-captain for England in limited overs cricket.

After more games at this level in 2004, and a first outing for England Under-19s against their Bangladeshi counterparts he spent the succeeding winter playing for the Under-19s on their tour of India.

2005 saw Ali make his first-class debut, against Cambridge University in May.

He impressed with the bat, making 57 not out in his only innings, and sent down two overs for 15 runs.

Playing that summer against Sri Lankan Under-19s, he starred in the final "Test" by making 52 not out and 100 not out (the latter innings from 56 balls) and claiming seven wickets.

He was then selected for the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, which was held in Sri Lanka, and was immediately promoted to captain by coach Andy Pick.

He made three half-centuries in the tournament, and took seven wickets.

Ali received additional opportunities for his county in 2006, playing his first List A games.

The first of these came against Derbyshire, where he dismissed Steffan Jones to claim his maiden first-team wicket.

He also took his first wickets in first-class cricket, and his first three victims were all Test players: Stuart Law, Dominic Cork and Dave Mohammed.

With the bat he scored 68 on his County Championship debut against Nottinghamshire, then equalled that score against Durham.

Ali's opportunities were somewhat limited, however, and Alex Loudon took his place in the side.

In July 2006, with the expiry of his Warwickshire contract only months away, Ali brushed off rumours of a move to Worcestershire, saying "I don't know anything about it", but in September it was announced that Ali would indeed be leaving to join that county.

The player himself said that he had been impressed by Worcestershire and felt it gave him the best prospects of furthering his career.

He made his debut for Worcestershire in their ten-wicket win over Loughborough UCCE on 25 April 2007.

Ali's highest first-class score of 250, scored against Glamorgan at New Road, featured a partnership of 219 with Matt Pardoe.

At the end of the 2010 season Worcestershire secured promotion to the first division of the County Championship.

After he was overlooked by the England Lions and England Performance Programme at the end of the 2010 English season, Moeen opted to play club cricket in Bangladesh at the suggestion of Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Shakib played for Worcestershire as their overseas player in 2010 and the link with the club led to Moeen representing Mohammedan Sporting Club in the Ispahani Premier Division.

During the 2011 season, Moeen spent three weeks as Worcestershire's acting captain while the usual club captain, Daryl Mitchell, was injured.

Though he had captained England Under-19s, it was the first time he filled the role for his county.

As he was inexperienced, Moeen approached senior players Vikram Solanki and Ben Scott for advice.

Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was Worcestershire's overseas player for a short time in 2011 and while at the club he encouraged Moeen to try bowling the doosra.

Moeen had to wait until July before registering his first century of the season, and his first since September the previous year.

He played Test cricket for England between 2014 and 2023, when he became only the 16th person to hit 3,000 runs and take 200 wickets in Tests.

In domestic cricket he represents Warwickshire, having previously played for Worcestershire.

He has also played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

Ali made his debuts in all three formats in 2014, He was part of the England teams that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup.

On 7 June 2023, Ali announced he was coming out of retirement for England Test team following an injury to first choice spinner Jack Leach, just ahead of the 2023 Ashes Series.

He fully retired from Test cricket at the end of the Ashes series.

Ali plays as an all-rounder, batting left-handed and bowling off spin.

Ali was born in Sparkhill, Birmingham.

He is of Pakistani and English descent; his grandfather migrated to England from Mirpur, Kashmir, while his grandmother, Betty Cox, was a white Briton.

He can understand Urdu and Punjabi.

He became known fondly as "the beard that's feared" while playing for Worcestershire.

Ali's father worked as a taxi driver, and as a psychiatric nurse.

He grew up on the same street as fellow cricketers Kabir Ali (his first cousin), Naqash Tahir, and Rawait Khan.

His brothers Kadeer and Omar are also cricketers.

Ali is a keen football fan and a lifelong supporter of Liverpool F.C.

Ali signed for Warwickshire aged just 15, hitting a half-century for the county's Second XI a few days before his 16th birthday.