Moeen Ali answers England’s SOS call to join Ashes squad after Jack Leach injury

The all-rounder returns to the fold after answering a SOS call from Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, less than ten days out from the start of the series, after Jack Leach was ruled out with a stress fracture. Ali will join the team in Birmingham on Monday.

Leach’s injury left England scrambling for spin options, with few outstanding candidates in county cricket and the likes of Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed still inexperienced as frontline red-ball bowlers despite making impressive debuts in Pakistan this winter.

As a result, England put the call out to Moeen, who retired from Test cricket after the 2021 home summer, though he briefly flirted with a return under McCullum last year before turning down the chance to tour Pakistan.

“We reached out to Mo early this week about returning to Test cricket,” England’s managing director of men’s cricket, Rob Key, said. “Having had a couple of days to reflect, Mo is excited to join the squad and play Test cricket again. His vast experience, along with his all-round ability, will benefit our Ashes campaign.”

Convincing the off-spinner to return will be seen as a major boost for Stokes and McCullum, and further evidence of the positive environment created under the pair’s leadership, Moeen having said last October that he was “done” with Test cricket.

It remains, however, a significant gamble: the 35-year-old has not played any first-class cricket since winning the last of his 64 Test caps against India two years ago and has a poor record against Australia.

There is no guarantee Moeen will play in the First Test at Edgbaston, where England could instead field an all-seam attack, though Stokes has so far picked at least one spinner in all 13 of his Tests as captain, regardless of conditions.