It’s all systems ‘Mo’ for Yorkshire’s Blast title tilt
England legend Moeen Ali arrives at Headingley adding immense quality and experience to Yorkshire’s bid for Vitality Blast silverware.
Moeen has been there, done it and bought the t-shirt in international cricket, having won all the big prizes with England before retiring from top-level cricket in September 2024.
A two-time World Cup winner, both 50-over and T20, he is also an Ashes winner.
He is also a Blast-winning captain, triumphing with Worcestershire in 2018.
An all-rounder who bats in the top order – he has the ability to mix power with precision – and bowls off-spin, the 38-year-old is approaching the 450-game mark in his T20 career.
At time of writing, he has scored 7,792 runs and taken 271 wickets from 420 matches.
Left-handed Moeen is likely to fill the number four slot in Yorkshire’s batting order in the Blast, for which he has signed a one-year contract with the county. There is also the option to extend into 2027.
He actually announced his retirement from county cricket after completing last summer’s Blast with home county Warwickshire. He is Birmingham-born and the cousin of ex-White Rose assistant coach Kabir Ali.
Moeen has played in a host of T20 leagues across the world, be it the IPL, the SAT20, the Pakistan Super League and, most recently, the Bangladesh Premier League.
He is a two-time IPL winner with Chennai Super Kings in 2021 and 2023. He became the first Englishman to win that particular competition.
He was part of England’s 2019 home soil 50-over World Cup triumph, though he didn’t play in the famous final triumph over New Zealand at Lord’s.
He was, however, an integral part of the T20 success in Australia in late 2022. He was an ever-present throughout that campaign.
Moeen captained England on 13 occasions, all but one of them coming in T20 cricket. He also captained his country to the semi-final of the Under 19s World Cup in 2006.
He played 298 times across all formats for his country, debuting in all three formats in 2014.
He is a close friend of Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
He has scored three T20 centuries and taken a five-wicket haul, all coming in domestic cricket. A Test hat-trick came his way in 2017, and he has achieved the same feat in T20 cricket.
JANUARY 2026.
