Moeen Ali is relishing being part of the England set-up but that does not stop him keeping in regular touch about the fortunes of Worcestershire – sometimes with the help of former captain Phil Neale.
Moeen is in the squad for Wednesday's first Investec Test with India at Trent Bridge and will be fully focused on playing for his country as he looks to build on his encouraging performances in the two Tests versus Sri Lanka at Lord's and Headingley.
But when the opportunity arises or permits, he is always keen to stay abreast of events at New Road where his outstanding form during the past couple of years helped earned him the international call-up.
Moeen said: "I am very pleased to be playing for England but when I do play for England, I miss playing for Worcestershire.
"I keep my eye when I'm with England on the Worcestershire scores all the time. I do that as much as I can, almost every session whenever I can.
"Obviously we don't have our phones during the game and you concentrate 100% on the job in hand.
"But as soon as the game finishes, I always check the score.
"I am always asking Phil Neale (team operations manager) what the score is. He's got his phone with him."
