Just one day ahead of the Ashes, on June 15, England all-rounder Moeen Ali paid a visit to Windsor Castle to collect his OBE in the presence of King Charles. Ali’s wife Firoza and parents Munir and Maqsood accompanied him to the event. The all-rounder was awarded the OBE in recognition of his 16-year-long professional career and his valuable contribution to English cricket. According to a Mirror report, Ali almost missed the news of his OBE nomination as the invitation mail “went straight to his junk.” The email remained unanswered till Ali received a message from his county Worcestershire a few weeks later and learnt about the honour.
“I overlooked it for ages. I received a message from Worcester stating that the sender of my email was attempting to contact me. They said, ‘You have some vital news’. Then I got to know and it was a wonderful surprise,” Moeen Ali recalled, as quoted by the Mirror.
While dedicating the award to his family, putting stress on the support of his parents, an overwhelmed Ali said, “I think it’s not about runs and wickets. I suppose it has more to do with the journey that I’ve gone through and stuff like that. It’s because of my background and upbringing, I guess.”
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Despite the announcement was made last year during the Queen’s birthday honours, the award ceremony remained postponed thus far as the cricketer could not secure a suitable time to complete the formality. Having been granted permission from head coach Brendon McCullum, Ali had to miss last-day training for the Ashes to attend the OBE event.
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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 15, 2023
Moeen Ali has decided to come out of Test retirement to play the iconic Ashes. He bid adieu to the longest format back in September 2021 after making his final Test appearance against India. After England’s first-choice spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the Ashes due to injury issues, Ali was called up by the board to fill the shoes of Leach and the veteran all-rounder could not turn down the offer. Despite not featuring in a Test match since 2021, Ali will take the field for the opening Test against Australia which will begin at his home ground Edgbaston in Birmingham on June 16.
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Speaking about why he chose to reverse retirement, Moeen Ali expressed his admiration for Test cricket and revealed how his wife convinced him to take the U-turn. “She (Firoza) was aware that towards the end of my Test career, I wasn’t enjoying it as much and that, over the previous two years, I had been a lot happier with the way things were going and enjoying my cricket. That required a lot of convincing,” the 35-year-old said.
Ali further acknowledged that the venue of the first Ashes Test also had a significant impact on his decision-making. The Warwickshire cricketer has a rich experience playing at Edgbaston which definitely played a part in his return call-up. During his illustrious red-ball career, Ali has donned the whites for England in 64 Tests, aggregating a total of 2914 runs and picking up 195 wickets.
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