England all-rounder Ravi Bopara admits he still feels “devastated” from his exclusion earlier this summer.

Bopara had been widely tipped to feature in England’s one-day international team for the series against India, especially after playing the series against Sri Lanka in May.

However, he ended up playing just the one-off Twenty20 international against India, which England won, scoring an unbeaten 21 and conceding 14 runs with the ball for no reward.

Bopara has been enjoying life at club level, averaging 44.64 in the County Championship, as Essex only narrowly missed out on promotion from Division Two, and earned himself a new one-year deal.

While he has been recalled to the England squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, it is the summer that Bopara still feels sore aboutas: “Obviously I’m devastated (about the exclusion).

“Life is full of surprises, but now I just want to focus on the future, and getting back into the squad for Sri Lanka is a great feeling.”

Bopara made his ODI debut against Australia in Sydney in 2007 and will hope to be on the plane there once again when England fly out for next year’s World Cup.

To that effect, when asked if he had any major changes to make to his game ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, Bopara added: “Nothing special.

“I’m mainly hitting as many balls as I can. That’s all you can do as a cricketer.

“I’m going to be in the nets pretty much every day (until we set off for Sri Lanka).”

Bopara has also backed England’s rising star Moeen Ali to make it at least a decade of success after he was named the professional player of the season at the inaugural Asian Cricket Awards at Lord’s.

Ali saw off competition from fellow all-rounder Bopara, Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid and Warwickshire’s Varun Chopra, with the accolade coming just a few weeks after he was also given the Birmingham sportsman of the year title.

And Bopara, who will line up alongside Ali on England’s winter tour to Sri Lanka, said: “Moeen has been brilliant this season.

“He’s shown his talent, how good he can be.

“He’s always looked like a guy who should go on and play at the top level.”