Moeen Ali: My dream is to become England head coach

Moeen Ali, England head coach? It may sound unlikely and is not on the table anytime soon, even with Brendon McCullum under significant pressure. But as Moeen juggles his transition into coaching with the latter stages of his playing career and some early forays into the world of punditry, it is an idea that appeals to him - and one that should not be totally ruled out.

"That's the dream," he tells ESPNcricinfo. "One hundred percent, that'd be the dream ... I think one day, I would want to be a top international coach. Definitely."

Moeen is speaking from Dubai, where he has relocated, during a rare break in a schedule that remains hectic despite his international retirement nearly 18 months ago. He has spent the last six months playing franchise leagues in the Caribbean, Canada, the UAE and Bangladesh, and will soon join up with England Lions' white-ball camp in Abu Dhabi in a coaching capacity.

It is a relatively informal arrangement, with Moeen and Ben Stokes both due to spend some time as part of Andrew Flintoff's backroom staff, joining Amar Rashid - Adil's older brother and spin-bowling coach - and Lions regulars Neil McKenzie, Sarah Taylor and Neil Killeen. "It's a great opportunity," he says. "I'm looking forward to that, big time."

From there, he will travel to Sri Lanka to work as a pundit for Sky on their coverage of the T20 World Cup. He has some previous broadcasting experience, but is particularly excited by this gig: "It's actually a bit of an honour because I've been watching Sky Sports all my life, pretty much… It's pretty special, and something you can't really turn down."

But it is clear where Moeen's true passion lies. He is studying for his ECB Level Three qualification but has been steeped in coaching all his life. His father, Munir, was his first coach, and still runs the Moeen Ali Cricket Academy; his brother, Kadeer, is assistant coach at Worcestershire; and his cousin, Kabir, is bowling coach for Warwickshire's women.

"I used to coach for my dad's academy, before I played for England," Moeen says. "I used to coach heavily. My brothers all coach and coaching is part of our genetics in some ways. It's a journey that I've always been on."

Moeen's final series as a Test cricketer - the drawn Ashes series in 2023 - came under the stewardship of McCullum, who embodies a global coaching landscape that is increasingly dominated by 'mentors' who focus almost solely on the mental side of the game.

But he presents himself as a refreshingly old-school coach. "I'm a massive believer in technique. I always have been," Moeen says. "I think the one that's lacking in cricket right now generally, with so much T20 cricket - which is great, obviously, in a way - is technique, and having the foundation of proper batting, like in Test matches.

"We [England] got exposed a little bit in Australia, in my opinion, because of probably a bit of a lack of technique at times. Of course, there's the mental side of the game and all that, but I'm a big believer in having a good, strong technique first. The foundations have to be good, and then you can develop other stuff as well."

Moeen started his career as a batter and occasional bowler, but believes he may be best suited to coaching spinners.

"I went through the whole journey of almost being a part-timer to then changing and having to go through all that learning on the job… I worked with Saqi and other coaches who were unbelievable. I believe Saqlain Mushtaq is a genius when it comes to offspin and coaching it. I learned a lot from that, and obviously I've batted all my life. Fielding will be my weakest point!"

As for the idea that he could coach England one day? "It feels miles away. [But] when you're playing club cricket or domestic cricket, you feel like England's miles away… Things can change. Things can happen quickly.

"I'm going to take my time with it to do that, do some punditry, and see which one I like and see which one naturally takes me. I've always been the sort of person that goes with the flow and [I'll] see what happens, and see where they both take me."

At least, that is, while he is not playing. Moeen will head to Pakistan next month to play for Karachi Kings in the PSL, and confirmed last week that he has reversed a short-lived retirement from English domestic cricket and will play for Yorkshire in the T20 Blast this year.

It was a surprise move given the backdrop of the high-profile racism scandal that engulfed the club for several years, but Moeen hopes that it will be seen as "a way of building bridges" between Yorkshire and the local South Asian population.

"Jonny [Bairstow] called me," Moeen recalls. "[He said] he would love to have me at Yorkshire. I thought about it for some time. I was in discussions with a couple of other teams, and Yorkshire just felt right. I know it's probably come as a shock or a surprise to people of South Asian heritage and background, but it is what it is.

"I feel like there's good experience there, good young players, and it's a great wicket, a great place to play cricket… It's a massive, massive club with a huge history and heritage, and I also feel like it's a way of building bridges. If it does that, then amazing. That's great."