MOEEN Ali’s superb form with the bat this summer has been rewarded with a place in the 16-man England Performance Programme (EPP) squad.

The on-song Worcestershire left-hander has amassed more than 1,300 runs in four-day cricket this summer and will spend a period training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough followed by a month in Australia.

With the EPP, former England Lions man Moeen will be based in Brisbane for a fortnight followed by two weeks in Perth.

National selector Geoff Miller said: “The England Performance Programme provides an excellent opportunity for those players identified as having considerable talent to train together in an England environment throughout the winter and further develop as cricketers and this is an exciting young squad who have impressed in domestic cricket recently.

“The time spent at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough and Australia allows our coaches to work intensively with the players and assess their readiness to graduate to the full England side when the opportunity arises.

“Gary Ballance, Boyd Rankin and Ben Stokes have all come through the EPP in recent years and have put in strong performances for their counties and England teams to earn an opportunity to step into the Test environment.”