Moeen Ali and Saeed Ajmal are both included in a 13 strong Worcestershire squad for tomorrow evening's NatWest Trophy Blast clash with Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Northampton.
All-rounder Moeen has been made available by England for the next month to fine tune his game ahead of the Ashes and is also expected to play in three LV = County Championship matches against Warwickshire, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire.
The 27-year-old played in four T20 Blast matches last season, scoring 101 runs at an average of 25.25 and a strike rate of 150.74 and taking four wickets at an average of 28.00 at an economy rate of seven runs per over.
Saeed is starting his third spell with Worcestershire and the first since remodelling his action during the winter to meet ICC guide-lines after a spell of being banned from international cricket.
He played in 10 T20 Blast matches last summer, taking 12 wickets at an average of 19.75 and an economy rate of 6.07 runs per over – the best of all the Worcestershire bowlers who played regularly in the competition.
The Steelbacks, the 2013 winners, have lost their opening two matches in the competition.
But Worcestershire Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes said: "In T20 cricket any side can beat each other on the day and it evens itself out, the shorter the game.
"It is only two years ago that Northants were champions in this competition. I went to finals day that year and watched them that day and they played magnificently well.
"They've still got quite a lot of those match-winners in that side and they are always going to be tough opposition.
"We respect them, we won't fear them, but we'll respect them because they've got some good cricketers and hopefully they will take a look at our side and think similarly."
Worcestershire (from):
Daryl Mitchell
Moeen Ali
Richard Oliver
Tom Kohler-Cadmore
Colin Munro
Ross Whiteley
Ben Cox
Brett D'Oliveira
Ed Barnard
Joe Leach
Saeed Ajmal
Jack Shantry
Alexei Kervezee
