Yorkshire target Ali talks up Test return

YORKSHIRE are keen on signing England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who yesterday revealed he ‘would love’ to reverse his Test cricket retirement.

Ali, who turns 35 next week, is out of contract with Worcestershire at the end of this summer and clubs can approach players in such situations from this month onwards.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Yorkshire want to position themselves at the front of the queue for the 225-cap international.

Ali is the cousin of the club’s bowling coach Kabir Ali and close friends with Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid.

The Birmingham-born player has spent the last 15 years with Worcestershire after moving across the West Midlands for greater opportunities as a teenager. His former club Warwickshire are also sure to be interested in his signature if he decides to leave New Road.

Over the past decade, Ali has established himself as one of the country’s most versatile players, capable on his day of turning matches on their head with his attacking philosophy. Such a style, he believes, tallies with that which the new coach-captaincy alliance of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes want the Test team to play.

Ali culled his Test career with 195 wickets and 2,914 runs to his name last September, citing a lack of motivation and belief he was misused as a player under the former captain Joe Root. But he is ready to add his name to the spin bowling options for the game’s longest format again, as the Mail on Sunday reported a fortnight ago.

Speaking to the BBC’s Test Match Special yesterday, he revealed: ‘I said to Brendon the door is never always closed if your country needs you, or guys are injured or your team needs you for balance. So yeah, I’m keen.

‘To be honest, I’d love to play under him and Stokesy. Both of them have that character about them. They’re very aggressive. I think I would suit their cricket a bit more and I think they feel I would suit them as well.’

Such sentiment opens the possibility of Ali featuring in the historic three-Test series in Pakistan, from where his family originate, this winter — England last played there in 2005.

‘We’ve not been there for many, many years,’ he said. ‘It would be a great tour to be part of, for sure.’