GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S Benny Howell hopes that finishing as leading wicket-taker in this season’s NatWest T20 Blast might help him achieve a burning ambition to play one-day international cricket.

With Gloucestershire knocked out in the quarter-finals, their canny all-rounder had to wait until after Finals Day last weekend to be confirmed at the top of the bowling list.

As it turned out, Howell’s 24 wickets put him two clear of Essex all-rounder Graham Napier and three ahead of Yorkshire’s former England seamer Tim Bresnan.

On the county circuit, the Gloucestershire man is highly-regarded for his knuckle-ball and subtle variations in pace, which helped give him an economy rate of under seven an over in 14 completed T20 games this summer.

Howell has not yet attracted the attention of England’s selectors, but does not lack ambition to make the step up.

He said: “I think about international cricket all the time. I want to test myself at the highest possible level and I don’t think it is an impossible dream.

“I am not going to play Test cricket anytime soon. But if I can keep on producing against the best players in the country in one-day cricket, I hope it will get noticed.

“The selectors don’t tend to look at bowlers like me these days, but I hope to persuade them that we can be very effective.

“I have got top batsmen out in the one-day formats and like to think I could do the same at the next level.”

Playing in the Second Division of the Specsavers County Championship is not ideal for a player with England ambitions.

But, as Howell points out, in one-day cricket he comes up against teams from both tiers of the four-day competition.

“We face all the top counties, so performances should count for a bit more,” he said.

“I don’t think it is unrealistic for me to aim to play for England and I hope it will happen one day.”

Such was Howell’s consistency in the NatWest Blast that he failed to take a wicket in only two matches – and in one of those he conceded just 13 runs from four overs against Glamorgan at Cardiff.

He bowled a full four-over spell in every game, taking three wickets in three matches and two in six of the other group fixtures.