Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali has revealed that he was heavily advised against joining Yorkshire earlier this year for the T20 Vitality Blast.
The reason was the 2020 Azeem Rafiq scandal in which the player concerned had accused some of his Yorkshire team-mates of racism and bullying. The whole episode brought Yorkshire a lot of bad press. It eventually culminated in five players being found guilty.
But Ali ignored those voices after Yorkshire captain and former England team-mate Jonny Bairstow had a word with him and urged him to join his team, which also meant Ali coming out of his domestic retirement. “A lot of people I spoke to advised me against coming to Yorkshire, and that actually made me want to come even more.
“There were other counties [who suffered with racism problems] as well, but the whole thing started at Yorkshire with the stories and stuff. Every county has their own problems, but from what I’ve seen and heard, Yorkshire have done a lot of work.
“I’ve always found that if you do well anywhere and are good with people, people will be good with you. That’s my mindset,” Ali told BBC Radio Leeds.
“A lot of people were disappointed with me coming to Yorkshire, but if you can change the mind of one person, you’ve done a great job.
“Yorkshire have been doing a great job, so why not be part of that? There might be people from the same background as me, a South Asian background, who were probably hesitant to come and be themselves and play, and I don’t want anyone to ever think that.”
The Moeen Ali magic working!
Yorkshire is one of the four teams in the Blast who haven’t won the tournament yet. But this year, they have started well, having won their first three matches before losing their last game to Gloucestershire. Moeen Ali, Pakistani import Hasan Ali and former Aussie pacer AJ Tye have already contributed to the team’s success in the North regional group. This might be their year, who knows?
“If I can come to Yorkshire and help us win the Blast within the next couple of years, that will be amazing. That will be one of my best achievements as a cricketer. I’m at the back end of my career and just want to win trophies,” Ali, whose fifty was instrumental to one of the wins against Derbyshire as they chased down 195, said ahead of the Lancashire game later tonight.
