Ben Stokes announces England squad for The Ashes: Moeen Ali earns recall

England captain Ben Stokes has recently announced his squad for the first Test of The Ashes this summer which has included long-time absentee Moeen Ali.

Stokes knows that he has a record to keep up this summer with England having not lost a home Series of the Ashes since 2001, and with the world-renowned ‘Bazball’ on everyone’s lips, they have a lot to live up to.

However, Australia do indeed boast some of the best cricketing players on the planet including top-class spinner Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and the previously shamed Steve Smith.

It will indeed be a fiercely fought Ashes Series, something everyone wishes to see, but with question marks over the fitness and longevity of certain players including Ben Stokes and James Anderson, England will likely head into the Series as underdogs.

England announce Ashes squad

Australia will head into the first Test of The Ashes as holder of the world-famous urn, so that will put pressure on them immediately as well as having to deal with what will be a hostile atmosphere for the Aussies at Edgbaston.

Brendon McCullum and Stokes have finally come to the decision on who deserves a place in the highly anticipated Ashes first Test with notable inclusions for the likes of Ali as well as both Stuart Broad and Anderson.

It's official. Moeen Ali is back in England's Test squad 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿#ENGvAUS | #Ashes pic.twitter.com/BuZEKWlSYP

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) June 7, 2023

Not many people may have expected Ali to come straight into the team for the Ashes given his severe lack of game time in red-ball cricket having not been in a squad and played a game for over two years now, however, Stokes believes he is ready.

Moeen Ali back in the England squad

This all came about when Jack Leach suffered a cruel back injury during a warm-up game against Ireland almost two weeks ago, which forced Stoeks to call up Ali and convince him to come out of red ball cricket retirement.

The whole England squad to take on Australia is as follows: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

England and Australia will take to the field at Edgbaston – the home of Ali – tomorrow morning with the first ball set to be at 11 am and with stunning weather forecasted, it could well see even more people favour the Australians.