MOEEN Ali ended 2016 as one of only two players to score four Test centuries during that period - alongside Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

The Worcestershire all-rounder was also one of just five players in all Test cricket to top 1,000 runs during the calendar year.

Moeen hit 155 not out against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, 108 versus Pakistan at The Oval, 117 against India at Rajkot and 146 in the same series at Chennai.

The 29-year-old also struck five half centuries during the year - 61 versus South Africa at Cebturion, 63 and 86 not out off the Pakistan attack at Edgbaston, 68 against Bangladesh in Chittagong and 50 facing India in Mumbai.

He ended the year with 1,078 Test runs at an average of 46.86.

It was a fine effort by Moeen who had brought down the curtain on 2015 as Alastair Cook's opening partner against Pakistan in the UAE, then spent the domestic season at number seven or eight before climbing to the number five and number four positions versus Bangladesh and India.

Moeen's run tally was only topped by a trio of England players in Joe Root (1477), Jonny Bairstow (1470) - two players worked with at Yorkshire by current Worcestershire batting-second eleven coach Kevin Sharp - Cook (1270) and Kohli (1215).

The quartet of England players all played 17 Tests to accumulate their run tallies compared to 12 by Kohli.

But for the next six months there will be only white ball cricket before Moeen and England resume Test cricket during the second half of the 2017 season against South Africa and the West Indies.