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Moeen Ali calls ODI cricket the “worst format” with “terrible rules” and predicts its decline outside ICC events. He retired in 2024, expecting more players to choose franchise cricket.
Moeen Ali (Image: AFP)
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes ODI is the ‘worst format to play’ because of its ‘terrible rules’ and is thus close to ‘dying out’ completely. He believes the field restrictions and the mandatory use of two new balls has made the format lopsided for batters, which is killing the fun outside ICC tournaments.
Moeen played 138 ODIs for England, scoring 2355 runs at an average of 24.27 and picking up 111 wickets at 47.84. He retired from all international cricket in September 2024 at the age of 37.
“The format has almost completely died out, apart from World Cups and Champions Trophy. It is the worst format to play and I think there are many reasons for that,” Moeen told Talksport Cricket.
“I think the rules are terrible. To have that extra fielder after (the first powerplay), I think it’s a horrendous rule for taking wickets, building any sort of pressure. Guys are averaging 60, 70 in ODI cricket now because of that. When you’re bowling at somebody and you put a little bit of pressure, he just reverse-sweeps and it’s not even a single, it’s a four. It’s just there’s always that option available for the batters (to score),” he added.
“On top of all this, you have two new balls, you lose the reverse swing, you lose the art of trying to hit a softer ball. Everything’s always in the middle and crisp and it’s flying off your bat and stuff. I think for those reasons, the cricket’s just died. 50-over cricket has died,” Moeen continued.
His comments about ODI cricket came during the 2025 Champions Trophy, which is hosted by Pakistan (with some matches in the UAE), where England were eliminated from the group stage after failing to win a single match.
More retirements to play franchise cricket coming soon: Moeen Ali
Moeen also envisaged that the sport is headed towards franchise cricket ‘eating’ further into international cricket, with more retirements attracted by the money in leagues to come soon.
“I think franchise cricket is sadly eating it all up and the problem is the money that’s out there and the money that’s being thrown out there. It’s so much that people just can’t turn it down. It’s very difficult. There are probably guys who are probably going to retire in the next couple of years from international cricket to play franchise cricket,” Moeen added.
