Moeen Ali

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Moeen Ali England (Eng)

Batting style	Left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling type	Right arm off-break (OB)
	First-class	List A
Matches	7	9
Runs scored	234	173
Batting average	23.40	24.71
100s/50s	0/3	0/2
Top score	68	64
Balls bowled	458	124
Wickets	3	1
Bowling average	111.00	115.00
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	N/A
Best bowling	2-50	1-9
Catches/stumpings	4/0	1/0
Debut: 21 May 2005 Last appearance: 16 September 2006 Source: Cricinfo

Moeen Munir Ali (born June 18, 1987 in Birmingham) is an English cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and off-spin bowler who played county cricket for Warwickshire before moving to Worcestershire after the 2006 season. He won Warwickshire's NBC Denis Compton Award in both 2004 and 2005.

Ali signed for Warwickshire aged just 15, hitting a half-century for the county's Second XI a few days before his 16th birthday. ^[1] After more games at this level in 2004, and a first outing for England Under-19s against their Bangladeshi equivalents he spent the succeeding winter playing for the Under-19s on their tour of India.

2005 saw Ali make his first-class debut, against Cambridge University in May. He impresssed with the bat, making 57 not out in his only innings, and sent down two overs for 15 runs. Playing that summer against Sri Lankan Under-19s, he starred in the final "Test" by making 52 not out and 100 not out (the latter innings from 56 balls) and claiming seven wickets. He was then selected for the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, which was in fact held in Sri Lanka, being immediately promoted to captain by coach Andy Pick. He made three half-centuries in the tournament, and took seven wickets.

Ali got a few more opportunities for his county in 2006, playing his first List A games. The first of these came against Derbyshire, where he dismissing Steffan Jones to claim his maiden first-team wicket. He also took his first wickets in first-class cricket, and his first three victims were all Test players: Stuart Law, Dominic Cork and Dave Mohammed. With the bat he scored 68 on his County Championship debut against Nottinghamshire, then equalled that score against Durham.

Ali's opportunities were somewhat limited, however, and Alex Loudon took his place in the side. In July 2006, with the expiry of his Warwickshire contract mere months away, Ali brushed off rumours of a move to Worcestershire, saying "I don't know anything about it", ^[2] but in September it was announced that Ali would indeed be leaving to join that county. The player himself said that he had been "impressed" by Worcestershire and felt it gave him the best prospects of furthering his career. ^[3]

His cousins, Kabir Ali and Kadeer Ali, also play first-class cricket (for Worcestershire and Gloucestershire respectively), while his brother Omar has played in the Minor Counties Championship for Herefordshire.