England legends Alec Stewart and Stuart Broad have called for former Australian bowler Daniel Worrall to be selected by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes for next year’s Ashes series.

Worrall, who played three ODIs for Australia on a tour of South Africa in 2016, made the decision to leave Australia for good in 2022 and play county cricket for Surrey as a local player courtesy of his British passport.

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The former South Australian swing bowler – whose action is from a bygone area as he runs in on angle, almost from mid-off – has had tremendous success for The Oval-based club with 139 wickets at 21.17 in the past three seasons and he is now close to being eligible for selection for England.

Former England and Surrey wicket-keeper batter Stewart has watched Worrall bowl a lot in recent times and showered high praise on the 33-year-old – who has declared that he is ‘ready to go’ if picked by England – when speaking to the London Telegraph.

“After Jimmy Anderson, over the last two years he’s the best bowler in the country,” Stewart said.

“He is as close to Jimmy Anderson skills wise that I’ve seen, and he’s just got better and better. Would I pick him? We’re about winning, so yes.”

Stewart admitted that he has reservations about England continuing their trend of selecting players born in other countries – think Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Eoin Morgan, Jonathon Trott and Matthew Prior in the past 20 years.

But the need for England to put in a competitive showing in Australia for the time in more than a decade – they have not won a single test match in their last three series on Australian shores – outweighs the optics of selecting yet another player who has shifted to the UK for greater opportunities.

“If he gets picked, there will be plenty of headlines and plenty of comments, but we have got to move with the times,” Stewart said.

“Really, it’s not ideal, I just want people born and bred in England, grew up wanting to play for England.

“But while the regulations are there, he’s just going to strengthen England’s bowling because he is a serious cricketer.”

Worrall obviously knows Australian conditions well and boasts an impressive First-Class record of 373 wickets at 25.36 with a strike rate of 52.4, but he does not appear to fit England’s ‘Bazball’ mold.

McCullum, Stokes and the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key have made a clear effort to blood bowlers with speed ahead of next year’s trip down under.

They forced Anderson into retirement earlier this year, discarded Ollie Robinson – albeit because of fitness issues – and Broad exited the scene last year as they chased pace.

Gus Atkinson enjoyed a stellar debut English summer against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, 20-year-old tall left arm seamer Josh Hull was handed a test cap because they liked the look of him, Ollie Stone was recalled from the wilderness, and they are doing their best to manage Mark Wood and Jofra Archer.

Those five all have the capability to regularly hit more than 140km/h on the speed gun, whereas Worrall is not that sort of bowler.

He moves the ball in the air and off the seam to trouble batters, like incumbent Chris Woakes and Matthew Potts who featured during the English summer.

Woakes has a poor away record however, which could provide an opening for Worrall and Anderson’s long-time new-ball partner likes that idea.

“I’m a huge fan of Dan’s bowling – he’s the standout player in county cricket,” Broad said.

“He moves the ball consistently. I like what he does with the wide angle on the crease, he can swing the ball away and nip it back.

“He has a lot of weapons in his armoury.

“There is no doubt he will be in the selectors’ thoughts because you could get a couple of great years from him. Ultimately, playing for him will be about winning Tests.

“He is a bowler that could help you get 20 wickets for a couple of seasons.”

If selected, Worrall would become the 12th player to represent Australia and England, and he would be the first Australian-born English test cricketer since Sam Robson opened the batting for England in seven tests in 2014.