Moeen Ali swaps holiday in Cotswolds for another Ashes adventure

M oeen Ali intends to “go with the flow” in the upcoming Ashes series and given the week just gone, the enormity of the challenge to come, and the team he has rejoined, it seems a fittingly decent outlook.

A week last Sunday, eyeing up a summer in the Blast, the Hundred and a family holiday in the Cotswolds, Moeen received a text from Ben Stokes that simply read: “Ashes?” Unaware that Jack Leach was out of the series with a lower-back stress fracture, this was met with a typical Moeen reply of “LOL”.

Moeen thought Stokes was “taking the mick” but over the next two days, after talks with the Test captain and Rob Key at the PCA golf day, caution from his wife, Firuza, and even the prime minister calling for his return, he said “yes”. Two years out of first-class cricket? Not a problem. Moeen has been lured by England’s new approach and an Ashes series that is shaping up to be a cracker.

His first day back at training was pretty eventful. Rocking up in all black civvies and exchanging pleasantries with the stewards, Moeen was soon into those unfamiliar whites for some official headshots. Five minutes later he and everybody – players, coaches, staff and media – were turfed out on the busy Edgbaston Road due to a fire alarm, the shoppers outside Aldi blinking double-takes in bright sunshine.

And on Wednesday he will head to Windsor with Firuza, his father, Munir, and his mother, Maqsood, to be presented with an OBE. Two days out from an Ashes series, this swerve from preparations was endorsed by England’s dream-weaving head coach, Brendon McCullum. “Mum and Dad love it,” Moeen says, his acceptance of the award as much for family as himself. “I’ve bought a three-piece suit. It’s going to be boiling.”

This dash to collect an