England all-rounder Moeen Ali has been awarded an OBE for services to cricket in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, but revealed he almost missed the news as the email informing him of his nomination "went straight to my junk".
Moeen has enjoyed a storied international career which has seen him play more than 200 games for England across all three formats. He was part of England's World Cup winning squad in 2019 and retired from Test cricket last year as their third-highest wicket-taking spinner.
However, Moeen went several weeks without responding to the nomination, with a call eventually having to be put into his county Worcestershire, who gave him the news. "It gets sent through on email and it actually went straight to my junk," Moeen revealed.
"I didn't see it for ages. I got a message from Worcester saying the person who emailed me was trying to get hold of me.
"They said, 'You've got some important news'. So then I got through and it was a great surprise." The 34-year-old has also been an important ambassador for British Asians and believes his award is testament to a career that has been about more than just "runs and wickets".
He added: "It's an honour to be recognised, it's amazing and my family are really proud and happy. More than anything, I know it makes my parents happy. It's not about runs and wickets.
"I think it's more about the journey I've been through and all that kind of stuff, I guess. It's my background, my upbringing and all that.
"From the from the word 'go', as soon as I played for England, people labelled me as being a potential role model or role model. It is a big responsibility.
"It's a lot and it is difficult to be that role model because you don't want to let people down. But as time has gone on, you kind of accept it and deal with it a lot better. You have to accept it and realise you are probably a role model even though you don't like saying it too much.
"You do inspire a lot of people, especially from the inner city and the people that can relate to you. I don't like that term role model, to a certain extent, but I know my role and what I need to do."
