Sky Sports Cricket Podcast
Moeen Ali joins Nas & Ath to look ahead to the Super Eights at the T20 World Cup
21 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What insights does Moeen Ali share about the Super Eights phase?
Yeah, gone. Gone, he gets his fairytale ending. An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Sparrow, the first-time winners! The most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. 6.04 and final Test wicket for Stewart Ward. It's India who will win the T20 World Cup. England's captain, Ben Stokes, while he is there, England have hope.
Okay then, the first Sky Cricket podcast of this World Cup. It's been quite difficult to coordinate myself and Nass together because we've been flitting all over the place in the opening stages, although it's been a hugely enjoyable World Cup so far.
So we're now in Kandy, just to explain that we're recording this pod before tonight's opening Super 8 game in Colombo, that's between New Zealand and Pakistan. We've driven up to Kandy, a four-hour drive today. There's a bit of weather around. It's been raining very heavily this afternoon.
Chapter 2: How have the associate nations performed in the T20 World Cup?
It's very humid. So if you hear the odd clap of thunder, that's why. Nass, you've been on the road as well, but good to see you. And Mo, welcome to the podcast. First appearance on the Sky Cricket Podcast. Yeah, it is the first one. You brought the worst trainers we've ever seen.
If Af doesn't like your gears, that's a compliment. Have I ever heard it right? You've been riding a horse as well. I was, yeah. John Wayne or something.
Yeah. I just saw the sign, horse riding, and I thought, that's something to do.
And Adil's been with you, has he?
Chapter 3: What challenges has England faced in the tournament so far?
Adil as well, yeah.
Where you go, he goes. You're fasting at the moment, aren't you? Yeah, it's been good. Excuse my ignorance, how did you cope with that when you played?
I actually found I did it very early so in county cricket I was doing it before I played for England and that was right in the summer so I found that they were the hard days and I thought if I can do that I can do anything and so when I used to fast in the county I actually played better when I fasted and I always said I batted better because I didn't want to be in the changing rooms sat doing nothing you know you're sniffing food exactly right it's always fun I used to play I used to play better but I
I told myself or trained myself that your body can do anything and you can get through anything and it's fine.
I said to Wardy, he's like, you're going to play golf. And I said, what time does it go dark? And he went, 6.13. I went, that's a bit specific. And he said, yeah, Mo told me exactly when it goes dark.
Exactly.
Just remind everybody where you are at the moment. You've moved to Dubai, you're living there, retired obviously from international cricket but still giving it a go and signed for Yorkshire of course.
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Chapter 4: Who are the tournament favorites according to the discussion?
Yeah, I still feel like I'm playing a lot of cricket. I'm playing in most of the leagues around the world. I still have the privilege to kind of choose which ones I play in and not play in. So I play in most of the leagues, I'm doing a bit of coaching in between. Which is really really good from for my game. Actually.
I feel like while I'm coaching while they're playing It's actually really helpful because I'm actually teaching guys or I'm telling guys things that I need to be doing right now as well So it's really good for my game.
And yeah, I really enjoy it So you just spent some time with the with the Lions who are in Abu Dhabi. Yeah, they're playing against the Pakistan kind of equivalent of Who who's impressed you then?
There's a couple of guys. Asa Tribe, he's a really, really good player. He's really nice. You know when you see somebody with good technique with just a bit more time than everybody else and just strong, he's got all the shots. Not just in white, but I think he's a really good red ball player. He's got the technique and he's 21, 22, and he looks a very good player, just solid.
Chapter 5: How does Moeen Ali cope with fasting during cricket matches?
He's just somebody you see straight away and you think, okay, he's a good player. McKinney from Durham is a nice player as well. He's an opening left-hander. So they're the two players that really stood out.
You say you're looking to do a bit of coaching. Difficult question for you to answer, but who would be the best coach? Out of everyone, England, franchises, county cricket, who is the best coach you worked under or with? You're going to upset a few.
There's some really good, and they're all different. A lot of the later part of my career, everything was about man-managing and more of a manager type. There was no one really coaching technique or things like that. For me, Steve Rhodes at Worcester was really good because he really pushed me. We just trained constantly and Just more technique and getting things right.
Because they're the basics that you really need to have.
Chapter 6: What coaching experiences does Moeen Ali highlight?
And then later my career was more just managing. Peter Moores was really good when I first played for England. I think he's brilliant for younger players in the side. And then Trevor Bayliss was... the most hands-off coach I've ever come across, but he just worked. He just knew how to get the best players, get the best out of players.
And then in the franchise circuit, there's loads of those type of coaches, like Fleming, Stephen Fleming. Baz was really good as well. So there's coaching and then there's managing almost now. It's almost two different things.
You saw the players today, the England players. Have you missed it? International cricket, have you been sitting there thinking, I really miss that?
I miss, yeah, of course you miss playing. I don't miss the warm-ups.
Chapter 7: How does Moeen Ali assess the performance of England's key players?
There's no cricketer who's retired who's ever come on a podcast or done an interview saying, I really missed the warm-ups.
I don't miss all that stuff. But it's just playing at the top level. Once you finish playing, what I found playing franchise cricket was that motivation is just not there anymore. You don't have that same drive. Even when you were dropped from Indian side, you played franchise or domestic cricket to get back in or to be informed. So there's always something and that has gone.
That's the difficult part of your latter stage in your career.
Rob Key is trying to fast track a number of former players, you obviously amongst them, to try and get you involved as coaches. Just explain what that involves. Do you still have to go through the hoops of getting your badges and all that kind of thing?
Uh, so he's put us straight onto level three, um, because his theory and kind of makes sense where if you're level one, level two is, it's obviously great to have, but once you've played international cricket or you've played some amount of games that you should, those are almost ticked off by just playing. Um, but there's more to obviously coaching than just having played.
There's a lot of things I go with and I'm getting taught in my fast tracking is how to interact with different types of players, what to look out for, um, and just how I go about my coaching and what sort of coach I am.
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Chapter 8: What strategies does Moeen Ali suggest for England's upcoming matches?
I think that's really important because you can just go into coaching, but for me, what I've realized recently over the last probably two, three months is I like the techniques. Weirdly, I like the technique side of things.
younger players having good technique and then going and playing and then the rest the mental side of the game then teaching or just coaching that really but so i'm a bit more technique um i'm not really a at the minute i'm not a sort of head coach kind of coach or obviously that's the dream and that's the ultimate goal but is that where you see your future Yeah, of course.
That's what I would love to do. I think when you're in anything, you want to try and be at the top. So that would be my thing. But at the minute, I'm just finding my feet, I guess, and just more the technique side of things.
Because the general perception is that modern coaching is a bit hands-off in terms of technique, isn't it? I mean, clearly when you get to international level, then as you say, it's a lot more about managing people and getting the best out of people. but at a lower level.
And I've often wondered whether the best coaches, in terms of technical coaches, should actually be working a level or two down when it's time to instil the basics.
Yeah, I totally agree. But I also think, actually, a lot of the international players, and I don't understand somebody who's retired and talking about other players, but...
technique is a little bit secondary now it's about like going out just seeing the ball hitting it and it doesn't really matter where your feet and hands are but it's more about when you're not playing well what do you go back to a lot of the time what's your kind of fundamentals what's your basics and I find
Throughout my career, even though I had very strict coaches when I was younger, Neil Ably, who was at Warwickshire, and Firdous, everything was about trying to be as solid as you can and technique and just having something to go back to when you're not playing so well. But I think that's missing, actually.
I think even at the top game now, when you see a player now and someone catches your eye after two, three balls, most of the time it's because of the technique and how sound it is. So, yeah.
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