‌Moeen Ali calls time off his International career

He doned the English jersey in 298 matches, racking up 6678 runs with eight centuries and 28 fifties across formats. With the ball in hand, the veteran picked up 366 wickets at an economy of 4.38.

Made his debut against Sri Lanka in 2014, the left-hander was primarily selected for his flair with the bat. However, his part-time spin bowling soon turned full-time following the sudden retirement of Graeme Swann. 

Despite being a two-time World Cup winner (T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup), the 37-year-old is one of the rare players to have scored 3000 runs and picked 200 wickets in the red-ball format. Yet another notable instance with Moeen is his Test hat-trick against South Africa in 2017 where he snared 25 scalps apart from piling up 265 runs. 

Previously, he announced Test retirement in 2021 before skipper Ben Stokes confessed him to come out of retirement for the 2023 Ashes that England drew.

"I'm very proud. When you first play for England, you don't know how many games you're going to play. So to play nearly 300... My first few years were all about Test cricket. Once Morgs [Eoin Morgan] took over the one-day stuff, that was more fun. But Test cricket was proper cricket. Even now, I've tried to be realistic. I could hold on and try to play for England again, but I know in reality I won't. Even retiring, I don't feel it's because I'm not good enough -- I still feel I can play. But I get how things are, and the team needs to evolve into another cycle. It's about being real to myself,” Moeen told the Daily Mail.

England selector's decision to drop three big names - Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, and Dawid Malan - is a hint of the constant evolution that they believe in. Plenty of fresh faces like Jacob Bethall, Dan Mousley, Josh Hull, and John Turner made it to the eight-match squad against Australia, bolstering England’s preparations for the upcoming ICC events in the particular format. The first T20I is scheduled on September 11 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton.