Warwickshire show interest in signing back Moeen Ali, Yorkshire also in the race

Warwickshire has made a move to sign their local lad Moeen Ali, who played at New Road in Worcester for the last 15 years. 

Moeen Ali, who played for Warwickshire before joining Worcestershire in 2007, will be free to leave the club after this season as his contract with Worcestershire ends this summer. 

The Birmingham-born player has spent the last 15 years with Worcestershire after moving across the West Midlands to develop more as a player back in 2007. 

Yorkshire are also eyeing signing the England all-rounder as they are looking for a player at the top of the order. Moeen is at the top of their shortlist to fill the vacant place.

The 34-year-old is also known to be very close to Yorkshire's Adil Rashid and their bowling coach, Kanbir Ali, who is a cousin of Moeen.

Speaking on the rumours of joining the White Rose, Moeen Ali said: "I think Yorkshire are doing a good job and will continue to do that. I don't think they need to sign me to make it a publicity stunt, almost. If I ever left, it would be for cricketing reasons."

Moeen Ali has taken 195 wickets, scored 2914 runs in his Test career, and decided to retire from the longest form of the game, citing a lack of motivation and concentrating more on his white-ball career. 

However, he confirmed his willingness to return to Test cricket on Saturday (June 11th). He declared that if new England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes so desired, he is ready to add his name to the spin bowling options ahead of their Pakistan tour this winter. 

Along with Moeen, Warwickshire also approached England's Test seamer Saqib Mahmood and Worcestershire's Ed Barnard and showed interest in signing them ahead of the 2023 season. 

Not only Warwickshire, but multiple clubs are interested in the aforementioned players as each one of them are out of contract at their respective clubs at the end of the summer. 

According to The Cricketer Magazine, Worcestershire (where Moeen and Barnard currently play) and Lancashire (where Saqib plays) have already been informed as per ECB rules that 'the clubs can approach players who are out of contract at the end of the season, from this month onwards and they must inform their current club first.

Warwickshire's Dom Sibley and Olly Stone will also be out of contract at the end of the summer, and the club hopes to retain both of them at the end. Warwickshire have already received an approach for Dom Sibley, who is not interested in signing a new contract with the Bears. They will further inspect the fitness status of Olly Stone, before making a contract offer.