CAPTAIN Eoin Morgan has backed Worcestershire's Moeen Ali to be England’s game-changer in their Royal London One-Day International Series against Australia which starts today.

All-rounder Moeen found himself out of the firing line, dropped from England’s Test series against Pakistan as both bowling and batting fell by the wayside.

Yet the spinner came out firing in the County ranks, blasting 114 from just 75 balls to help Worcestershire to the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-finals last week.

Now the 30-year-old is back in the blue of England with Australia in his sights less than five months after helping his country to a 4-1 ODI victory Down Under.

“It’s great to see Moeen getting back to his best and being happier with his game,” said Morgan.

“In the white-ball stuff over the winter he actually bowled really well and nobody gave him any recognition for that.

“He’s one of our all-rounders and when he’s in form can be absolutely devastating and take the game away from an opponent.

“He got a century (off 75 balls) for Worcestershire last week so if you’ve got a guy like that you’re in a position of strength.

“He bats seven for us and last year against the West Indies scored a 60-ball hundred at Bristol that went on to win us the game.

“Guys who can come in and influence the game like that are hugely important.”

While they enter the series against Australia as the world number one side, confidence will be far from at its highest for Moeen, Morgan and the England charges.

A six-run defeat to Scotland on Sunday proved humbling with the spinner’s figures of 0-66 economical in comparison to those of his colleagues.

Moeen kept England in the game with a quick 46 though a sixth ODI half-century was not to be forthcoming at The Grange.

But with just a year until the World Cup now more than ever is the time for Moeen to step up and secure his name on the teamsheet for cricket’s premier 50-over competition.

“In and around the changing room Mo is a big character as well and clearly enjoys his cricket so he’s a huge part of what we’re doing,” Morgan added.

“We’ve had a really strong winter, rounded our game, developed it and brought it forward a bit more which is great.

“We constantly need to improve our game as we go on, particularly ahead of the World Cup.

“The World Cup is definitely more important than being ranked the number one side in the world. It’s something we’ve been gearing towards for the last two-and-a-half years.

“Since the 2015 World Cup it has been our benchmark of where we want to be at. We knew we wanted to be ranked in the top three in the world to have a realistic chance of winning it.”

England face Australia at Surrey's Kia Oval today (1pm).

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