By Chris Bailey, Sportsbeat

ALEX Gidman may have endured an inauspicious start to his Worcestershire career but England all-rounder Moeen Ali expects his experience to shine through before long.

The 33-year-old looked set to finish his career as a one-club man at Gloucestershire before raising eyebrows by switching counties over the winter.

It’s given him one last chance at playing in the first division of the County Championship – but he has so far averaged just 20 with the bat.

However, apart from captain Daryl Mitchell and Ali, Gidman is part of a very youthful and inexperienced Worcestershire batting line-up.

And Ali insists the veteran’s experience is already proving vital for the county, even if the runs are yet to follow.

“He’s obviously found it a little bit tough but he’s settled in very well as a person in and around the dressing room,” said Ali, speaking as he launched Royal London’s summer of cricket, which includes the first Royal London One Day International, starting on Tuesday June 9 against New Zealand.

“I’m sure he’s one score away from having a good season for us and we definitely need his experience.

“We’ve got one or two guys like him who have been around for a lot of years, and sometimes it’s not always about the runs they score – it’s what they provide to the other players.

“We’ve got a lot of players with the potential to go on internationally, but what we’ve all had to do as a smaller club is make sure the performances have been very consistent over a long period of time.

“Hopefully that will be exactly what will happen and if we do that it’s great for Worcester as a team, and we’ll have more England players getting the honours.”

Worcestershire endured a disappointing Royal London One-Day Cup campaign last year, winning just two from eight games which saw them finish seventh in Group A.

But with young players such as Joe Leach, Charlie Morris and Tom Fell another year wiser, along with the return of overseas star Saeed Ajmal, Ali is expecting improvement.

“We’ve done really well in the first division this year without really having the reward, and I think the Royal London Cup is a big competition for us – it’s huge,” he added.

“We’ve been playing well over the last few years but maybe we haven’t had the quality to get over the line.

“But now the guys are more experienced and another year has gone by, we feel like we’re stronger now – we see ourselves as an underdog who can go really far in this tournament.”

Moeen Ali was speaking at the launch of the Royal London Gilbert Cup, a new grassroots U11 cricket tournament. www.royallondoncricket.com