Alex Hales, Adil Rashid’s commitment to white-ball cricket to benefit England: Moeen Ali

Alex Hales and Adil Rashid will not play first-class cricket in the 2018 domestic season but Moeen Ali believes this will result in more specialists in cricket.

Moeen Ali believes that Adil Rashid and Alex Hales committing solely to white-ball cricket will ultimately prove beneficial for England.

Moeen Ali has said the moves by Adil Rashid and Alex Hales could give birth to more specialists in the England side for all formats. (Getty Images)

Yorkshire spinner Rashid has been a mainstay of England’s one-day and Twenty20 sides, but has struggled to establish himself in Test cricket and will not play first-class matches for his county in 2018.

Big-hitting batsman Hales followed suit by agreeing a two-year contract with Nottinghamshire to play only the shorter formats.

All-rounder Moeen says that having specialists in the shorter formats can only be a good thing for England.

“It will be great for England long-term,” Moeen told Test Match Special. “We’re going to have real specialists and it’s something a lot of players will probably do further down the line. It’s something they feel they probably need to do to play round the world and in all the tournaments as much as they can.”