Cricket World Cup 2023: England's Moeen Ali happy to allow younger players to come in after exit

Media caption,

Australia win by 33 runs to knock England out of World Cup

All-rounder Moeen Ali says he would be happy to step aside if England want to rebuild with younger players after their dismal World Cup defence.

England have lost six of their seven games in India and sit bottom of the table with no hope of progressing.

Their squad is largely the same as the one which led England's white-ball revolution after the 2015 World Cup, culminating in winning the 2019 title.

"If I was in charge I'd play the younger guys," said Moeen, 36.

"I'd just start again and I'm sure they're going to do that. It's common sense more than anything."

England's vice-captain added: "I'm obviously going to speak to Jos [captain Jos Buttler] and Motty [coach Matthew Mott] and see what they want from me, whether they want me around or whatever.

"If they say, 'look we're going to go with younger players and start again' then I'm more than happy.

"I get it."

Defeat by Australia on Saturday mathematically ended England's title defence, although they were already effectively out after consecutive losses against Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India.

This group also reached the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2017 Champions Trophy semi-final and won the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.

In the past three games England have named a side with all 11 players aged over 30.

"Maybe the writing was on the wall and we just didn't see it as players because we thought we'd be performing well," added Moeen.

"But I just think everything good comes to an end at some point."

Any rebuild in white-ball cricket would need to be carefully managed with England's defence of the T20 World Cup coming in June next year.

Moeen signed a one-year central contract last month, running until October next year.

"I think they'll have players out here who are playing T20 because it is a different format and a different style of cricket and we've played a lot of T20 cricket over the years," said Moeen.

All England now have to play for is qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

To do so they must finish in the top eight in this World Cup group stage, meaning they require at least one more victory in their remaining games against the Netherlands and Pakistan.

Moeen, who was part of England's 2017 Champions Trophy squad, said it is important they qualify to allow any new players the chance to gain experience on the world stage.

"It's very important we as players make sure we qualify," he added.

"I know it was a semi-final defeat [in 2017] but it was just the experience of being there.

"It was disappointing that day but we knew that was in the bank for 2019."

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