Moeen Ali officially joins England’s Ashes squad after answering Brendon McCullum’s SOS call

Moeen Ali was officially added to England’s Ashes squad on Wednesday after answering Brendon McCullum’s SOS appeal to come out of Test retirement.

Moeen replaces ill-fated Jack Leach, who was ruled out after sustaining a stress fracture in his back, and could be thrown straight into the first Test against Australia next week at his home ground of Edgbaston.

The recall of Moeen, who last played red-ball cricket in his 64th and final Test against India at the Oval two years ago, was initially deemed unlikely when he became clear on Sunday that the ubiquitous Leach would be left out of the entire Ashes.

He took time out of his Test career to focus on white-ball cricket in 2021 and when McCullum made a similar call on him last year and asked him to tour Pakistan, the all-round off-shoot told the coach “sorry, I’m done”. .’

But England, as Mail Sport first revealed, decided to turn to Moeen again rather than throw Rehan Ahmed into the fray, or take the more conservative choice of plumping for Liam Dawson, l left Hampshire shipowner.

Ben Stokes (right) and Brendon McCullum (left) called on the spinner to come out of retirement

Jack Leach was forced to retire after suffering a stress fracture in his back against Ireland

“We contacted Mo at the start of the week to get back to Test cricket,” said England chief executive Rob Key.

“Having had a few days to reflect, Mo is delighted to rejoin the team and play Test cricket again.” His vast experience as well as his versatile ability will benefit our Ashes campaign.

Moeen, who will celebrate his 36th birthday in the first Test, has scored 2,914 Tests and taken 195 wickets and will be a formidable presence in the English batting order at eight, if England make a move that is completely in his character and throws him straight into the fray of the Ashes on June 16.

It’s a bold call from England but it’s also the right one. Moeen is something of a dissatisfied character in Testing, as he has too often been blighted by previous England regimes and now has the chance to settle some unfinished business against an Australian side he has struggled against at times.

England could still come into Edgbaston with an all-out attack, meaning they wouldn’t have to call between Mark Wood and Stuart Broad for their final bowling slot.

But they would have no qualms about selecting Moeen to power his breaks in an Australian side with potentially four southpaws in their top seven.