Moeen Ali is reportedly set to join Yorkshire as a T20 specialist, in a shock county comeback ahead of the 2026 English domestic summer.
In an exclusive published by the Daily Mail today (January 13), Moeen is set come out of a short-lived county retirement to play for Yorkshire. The former England all-format all-rounder pulled out of The Hundred last year and intended to retire from English domestic cricket at the end of the season after fulfilling the final year of his contract with Warwickshire. He had already announced his international retirement in September 2024, having not played for England since their loss in that year's T20 World Cup semi-final.
Moeen Ali comes out of county 'retirement'
As an active and in-demand player on the franchise circuit, his retirement from county cricket was intended to allow him to be freer to take up contracts around the world. By retiring from county cricket, he would not be subject to ECB NOC policies which would limit his ability to play other competitions during the English summer.
However, Moeen will now reportedly return to county cricket, less than a year after announcing his intention to retire, and make a fresh start with Yorkshire. The Daily Mail report details that Moeen will only play the T20 Blast, and it has not yet been announced whether he will take part in this year's Hundred. Moeen's last appearance in English domestic cricket in any format longer than T20 was in 2019.
Having started his career at Warwickshire, Moeen moved across to Worcestershire in 2007 and remained at the county for 15 years. He crossed back to Warwickshire at the end of the 2022 season, signing a three-year white-ball only contract. A move to Yorkshire could see Moeen playing alongside friend and former England teammate, Adil Rashid.
Moeen played 298 times for England across formats over a decorated career which spanned nine years. He was part of the England side which won the Ashes in 2015, as well as a member of the 2019 World Cup winning squad and part of their 2022 T20 World Cup win. He scored 6,678 international runs and took 366 wickets over the course of his career.
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