Richard Jones has been handed a shock place in the 41-man England Performance Programme.

The young seamer has gone from being nearly axed from Worcestershire last winter to national recognition and will head off to South Africa later this autumn for a training camp.

The 22-year-old fast bowler was placed in the ‘C’ Group category in the EPP, a section for young players who have first-class experience and have likely been part of the ECB Elite Player Development Programme.

Meanwhile, former Worcestershire opener Stephen Moore has been named in the ‘A’ Group section.

‘A’ Players: Mark Davies (Durham), Amjad Khan (Kent), Stephen Moore (Lancashire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire).

‘B’ Players: Steven Finn (Middlesex), Andrew Gale (Yorkshire), Rory Hamilton-Brown (Sussex), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Chris Nash (Sussex), Joe Sayers (Yorkshire), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), James Taylor (Leicestershire), David Wainwright (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

‘C’ Players: Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Vikram Banerjee (Gloucestershire), Keith Barker (Warwickshire), William Beer (Sussex), Alex Blake (Kent), Andy Carter (Nottinghamshire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Luke Fletcher (Nottinghamshire), Billy Godleman (Essex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Richard Johnson (Warwickshire), Richard Jones (Worcestershire), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Jake Mickleburgh (Essex), Sam Northeast (Kent), Ollie Rayner (Sussex), Ian Saxelby (Gloucestershire), John Simpson (Middlesex), Tom Smith (Middlesex), Max Waller (Somerset), Adam Wheater (Essex), David Willey (Northamptonshire).