COUNTY cricketer Moeen Ali is set to welcome to the country a team of disadvantaged teenagers from South Africa.

Worcestershire all-rounder Moeen is hosting the group from Fish Rite Hanover Park Cricket Club in Cape Town.

While in the country, the youngsters will take in the third day of the England v Australia Test at Edgbaston followed by youth matches against Harborne on August 4, Ombersley on the 5th, Moseley Ashfield, the 6th, and Ombersley again on the 8th.

Christopher Lodewyk, junior manager of Hanover Park, said: "I am extremely proud of these young boys.

"Despite their hardships they have really stepped up their game putting in time and effort.

"One day, they will realise this tour was the foundation for their success in whatever they achieve, be it in sport or their academic careers."

Moseley Ashfield is Moeen Ali's home ground, where he learnt to play the game as a boy, and the team will get the chance to meet him there.

Rob Green, Moseley Ashfield's youth manager, said: “We are immensely proud of what Moeen has achieved – he is a wonderful example of where talent and application can get you.

“The young cricketers will get a fantastic welcome at Moseley Ashfield. I am sure their tour will prove a big hit.”

The cricketers will watch a Worcestershire v Australia one day game, courtesy of the county, before taking in some sightseeing, attending a football match, and enjoying further fixtures in Devon and the London area before flying home on August 18.

Cape Town’s Fish Rite Hanover Park Cricket Club is sited in Cape Flats, a “dumping ground” of the former apartheid regime.

These were places where black South Africans were forcibly removed to the margins of the city.

The area is riddled with poverty and crime, and the people who live there are among the most deprived in South Africa.