Moeen Ali ready for England Test selection as Multan Sultans prepare to lose allrounder

The Sultans, who are this year coached by former England head coach Andy Flower, would not stand in the way of Moeen playing international cricket during the competition window

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Moeen Ali is set to make himself available for England’s tour of Sri Lanka in March after taking a six-month break from Test cricket.

Moeen ruled himself out of contention for the red-ball legs of the trips to New Zealand and South Africa over the winter after being dropped from the Test team for the final match of the Ashes series last summer.

However, he is expected to tell England’s selectors and management that he is ready to return for the two games against Sri Lanka - due to be staged at Galle and Colombo.

Moeen is currently due to play for Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League through much of March, having been picked as a platinum player in the tournament’s draft in December.

However, The Cricketer understands Multan are bracing themselves for the allrounder no longer being available to fulfil his PSL contract in full. Given the tournament begins for the Sultans on February 21, however, Moeen may be able to take part for some of the group stages should he be selected for the trip to Sri Lanka.

England's first warm-up game of the tour is scheduled to take place from March 7.

The Sultans, who are this year coached by former England head coach Andy Flower, would not put up any objection to Moeen playing international cricket during the competition window.

^{Moeen Ali is set to make himself available for England Tests once more}

Moeen is in South Africa with the England white-ball squad, who begin a three-match ODI series on Tuesday.

Last week, he revealed in an interview with Sky Sports that he felt ready for a Test comeback, having previously admitted to experiencing burnout in the summer.

“Even in the warm-up games here, I was thinking ‘I have missed this’, which is exactly the feeling I want,” he said.

“There were times when I thought I was going to quit playing Test matches, but I spoke to Rooty and he felt I was still a big part of this team. I am going to speak to Spoons [England coach Chris Silverwood] and Rooty but ultimately it is about if I feel I am ready to play again. I know even if I decide to go to Sri Lanka I might not get in straight away but I am going to fight for my place. I thought [Dom] Bess bowled really well in South Africa but it was almost like, ‘yeah, I could to that, I can still do that’.

“I want to come back a better player.”

Moeen has 181 Test wickets for England from 60 appearances at an average of 36.59. Only three English spinners have more.

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