Moeen Ali opens up about taking over captaincy from Jos Buttler

Moeen Ali is adamant that everything will go as it usually does if he takes over captaincy of England’s cricket team as skipper Jos Buttler will have to leave for the birth of his third child at any time.

Talking about the possibility of taking over the role of captain, Ali said that it would be a great honour as always.

“Obviously if it happens, then it’s a great honour as it always is,” England’s T20I and ODI vice-captain Moeen said. “I’ll be fine. Nothing will change too much, it’s just taking over from what he’s [Buttler] doing and then when he comes back, he takes over.”

“For me, it’s just whatever will happen, will happen. It’s not really difficult, to be honest with you, because we speak often, me and Jos. We talk about other things, the team and all that. We’re on the same page anyway.”

The English men are currently hosting Pakistan for a four-match T20I series. The first match was on May 22 and was washed out due to rain without toss as heavy rain kept pouring down at Headingley. The second match of the T20I series will be played on May 25 at Edgbaston.

Ali is the vice-captain of the team and he will have to step in as skipper for the series or possibly the T20 World Cup which is set to start on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies.

The remaining three matches of the series hold significant importance for both of the teams as it is their last outing before the T20 World Cup begins in June as they will not play any warm-up games before the tournament.

“It was obviously disappointing [on Wednesday] because Leeds is a great place to go and play. Playing cricket is always the best preparation. I know most of the guys have been playing. A few guys have been training but it’s not the same, so hopefully, they’ll get some game time.

“These three games should be enough for the guys to get going and there’s a bit of time in the West Indies, a few training sessions. We’ll be fine. There’s no real excuses from our side,” Ali said.

England is grouped with Australia, Namibia, Oman and Scotland in Group B of the tournament. The defending champions will begin their 2024 T20 World Cup stint on June 4 against Scotland at Barbados.

Pak vs Eng series schedule:

25 May – 2nd T20I, Birmingham

28 May – 3rd T20I, Cardiff

30 May – 4th T20I, The Oval

England’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2024

England squad: Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.

England’s schedule for the T20 World Cup 2024:

4 June - England vs Scotland, Barbados

8 June - England vs Australia, Barbados,

13 June - England vs Oman in Antigua

15 June - England vs Namibia in Antigua

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