Moeen Ali fears 50-over cricket could be lost due to ‘unsustainable’ schedule

England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes 50-over cricket could soon be consigned to the history books if the ‘unsustainable’ domestic and international calendar is not fixed.

It was only three years ago Eoin Morgan captained England to an unforgettable World Cup triumph in the same format, with Moeen part of the squad and used in five matches of the home tournament.

Next year will see England attempt to defend their crowd in India but this year they have only played nine one-day internationals and have no more scheduled for the rest of 2022 with Test cricket and T20s taking precedence.

Moeen, who is captaining Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, said: “It just feels like it’s going that way and there’s nothing almost you can do because I think the interest in 50-over cricket is not there as it probably once was.

“So yeah, having won it in 2019 it’s a difficult one because I genuinely feel in two to three years time, nobody’s going to want to play it.

“It’s a bit like our domestic stuff here at the moment, there’s the Hundred while the 50-over is going on and there’s not that much interest in it compared to the County Championship, the Vitality Blast and the Hundred.”

At the moment it’s not sustainable in my opinion. Something has to be done because I fear losing the 50-over format in a couple of years because it's almost like the long, boring one if that makes sense.- Moeen Ali

The Royal London Cup, the domestic 50-over competition, is taking place once again in the shadow of the Hundred, a franchise tournament created by the England and Wales Cricket Board to increase interest and participation in the sport.

With so many franchise leagues all around the world, and two more to be added in January in South Africa and the