IN-FORM opening batsmen Stephen Moore has set his sights on clinching a place in England's Academy squad for next winter.

Before today's game with Leicestershire, Moore was Worcestershire's leading scorer in first-class cricket, ahead of even Graeme Hick, during the current campaign with 691 runs at an average of 62.82.

That has followed on from his first full season of county cricket in 2004 when he passed 1,000 runs after an early season injury to Kadeer Ali, now with Gloucestershire, gave him an opportunity to be converted into an opener.

Moore scored a career-best 246 in last month's Frizzell County Championship clash with Derbyshire at New Road and also has three other half-centuries to his name.

He said: "I want to keep taking strides forward. You aim to raise the bar personally and if I raise my levels of performance and consistency, the number of runs will hopefully take care of itself.

"I'd love to get in the England Academy. My ultimate goal is to play for England so, if at the end of the summer I can be knocking on the door of the Academy or a winter tour of some sort, that would be a really good goal for me.

"Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty have gone on to the Academy from Worcestershire and then gone into the senior squad so they have showed what can be achieved."

Moore added: "Consistency at this level of the game is important and it's about the guys who season-in and season-out churn out the runs. That's what you have to do.

"You can't rest on your laurels and think 'I've got one big score, I've done it now'. You have to keep working hard and take these patches of form which are going your way and make them really count."

n Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas, due to play his last game for Worcestershire at Leicestershire today, starred for an International XI at Lord's yesterday.

But, despite Vaas' 2-19 from seven overs and 12 not out, the MCC triumphed by 112 runs in a tsunami relief fund-raiser watched by a 20,000-plus crowd. Vaas' replacement Shoaib Akhtar returned MCC figures of 0-31 from five overs.