Former England batsman Mark Ramprakash will lead a multi-national MCC team against Lancashire in English cricket's traditional curtain-raiser in Abu Dhabi next month.
For the third year running, the first-class match will be played under floodlights with a pink ball at the Zayed Cricket Stadium and will be played between March 27-30.
"I am delighted to be returning to Abu Dhabi for the third year to play the Champion County match," John Stephenson, MCC's Head of Cricket, who selected the team, said. "It gives the club a superb opportunity to test the pink ball in an excellent international ground, and I believe the players we have brought together will be able to exploit the conditions and use the match as a valuable warm up for the season ahead.
It will be preceded by the Emirates Airline Twenty20 - a four-way tournament featuring MCC, Lancashire, Durham and Sussex - played at The Sevens, Dubai on March 23. This will provide valuable preparation for the Indian Premier League for Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, who then depart before the match in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the Rajasthan Royals' and Pune Warriors' campaigns respectively.
Ramprakash will be leading sides featuring a blend of youth and experience and drawn from five countries and eight English counties. The last time he wore MCC's colours was as an England tourist to South Africa in 1995.
The side aiming to repeat MCC's success on the field against Nottinghamshire in 2011 includes two spinners, Durham's Ian Blackwell and Surrey's Gareth Batty who have played for England, and Worcestershire's Moeen Ali who represented the England Lions against England in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
Their spin will be complemented by pace from Pakistan and Derbyshire's Rana Naved, 19-year-old all-rounder Lewis Gregory, who was Somerset's leading wicket-taker in last year's T20 competition, and veteran seamer Alan Richardson who enjoyed an excellent 2011 season, taking 73 first-class wickets. Ireland's Niall O'Brien is the man charged with taking the stumpings and claiming the catches behind the stumps.
Glamorgan's Gareth Rees and Northamptonshire's Stephen Peters will hope to lay a solid foundation at the top of the innings on which Ramprakash and former MCC Young Cricketer and New Zealand international Hamish Marshall can capitalise. Peters has the advantage of having played with the same pink Kookaburra G3 ball with white seam when he represented MCC in last year's fixture.
"It's a great pleasure to be back in MCC's colours after so many years, all the more so given I was originally picked to play in this match in 2010 but was unable to - it's fantastic to get another opportunity," Ramprakash said. "I have never played with a pink ball before and I'm looking forward to negotiating this new challenge. Any innovation - such as floodlit cricket using pink balls - which could help increase the popularity of the game is to be welcomed.
"I am looking forward to captaining such diverse cricketers. I believe there is much to be gained from playing alongside different team-mates, from new skills on the field, to friendships off it, and I'm very much looking forward to the trip."
MCC squad: Mark Ramprakash (England and Surrey), Moeen Ali (England Lions & Worcestershire), Gareth Batty (England and Surrey), Ian Blackwell (England and Durham), Rahul Dravid (Emirates Airline Twenty20 only) (India), Sourav Ganguly (Emirates Airline Twenty20 only) (India), Lewis Gregory (England Under 19s and Somerset), Hamish Marshall (Champion County match only) (New Zealand and Gloucestershire), Rana Naved (Champion County match only) (Pakistan and Derbyshire), Niall O'Brien (Ireland and Northamptonshire), Stephen Peters (Northamptonshire), Gareth Rees (Glamorgan), Alan Richardson (Worcestershire)
