As a former all-rounder for England, Moeen Ali considers ODI the ‘worst format ever to play’ mainly because of its ‘terrible rules’, and is thus close to ‘dying out’ completely. He believes the field restriction mechanism, especially the mandatory use of two new balls, has rendered the format heavily leaning toward the batters, which is killing the fun outside of ICC tournaments.
Moeen played 138 ODIs for England, scoring 2,355 runs at an average of 24.27 and picking up 111 wickets at 47.84. He quit playing international cricket in September 2024 at the age of 37.
“That (ODI) format, apart from the World Cup and Champions Trophy, has almost died out,” said Moeen in an interview with Talksport Cricket.
“It’s the worst format to play, and there are plenty of reasons for that.” “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.
“Then there you have, on top of that, two new balls, losing reverse swing, losing the art of being able to hit a softer ball. Everything is always in the middle and crisp, and it’s flying off your bat and stuff. I think for those reasons cricket’s just died. ODIs have died,”
Moeen said. His comments regarding ODI cricket came juSt when the 2025 Champions Trophy, held in Pakistan (with some matches in UAE), was being played. England were eliminated from the group stage after not winning a single match.
Moeen, however, painted a plausible picture of how this sport might have franchise cricket ‘eating’ further into international cricket, with more retirements coming fast, lured by the purse of leagues.
“I think the franchise cricket is sadly eating it all up, and the problem is, with all the money that’s out there, with all the money that’s been thrown out into the world, it is quite a proposition that most people just can’t turn down,” continued Moeen. “It’s very difficult to say. There are probably guys that are probably going to retire in the next couple of years from international cricket to play franchise cricket.”
