Moeen in talks to make shock comeback

MOEEN ALI is ready to come out of Test retirement as new England coach Brendon McCullum looks to white-ball specialists to inspire a red-ball rebuild.

McCullum has singled out all-rounder Ali, Adil Rashid, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone as one-day stars who can prove their five-day class as the New Zealander looks to drag England out of the

Test doldrums. Ali, who has taken 195 wickets and scored 2,914 runs in 64 Tests, retired from the format in September, citing a lack of motivation.

But The Mail on Sunday understands he has already spoken to England’s new Test head coach about his future.

A source said: ‘He respects Brendon and would play for him. He’s always been committed to England and wishes to continue. He will assist when required.’

England have won just one of their last 17 Test matches and McCullum’s first task is trying to

beat New Zealand in a three-match series starting at Lord’s on Thursday.

When it was put to him that Ali had retired from Test cricket, McCullum replied: ‘We’ll see. I’m

sure if Mo wanted to then he’d challenge, no doubt.’

McCullum added that he sees no reason why one-day aces Rashid, Buttler and Livingstone can’t ‘transition across’ to the Test team.

‘Then you’ve got a team who can dominate at the top,’ he said.

‘I look at all of those guys and think there’ll be a time where they may get an opportunity if they’re invested enough.

‘There’s probably been a bit of hurt at times for them, because they’ve been in and out of the team and there hasn’t been that persistence for them.’