DBD to captain MCC in Barbados
Thursday 1st February 2018
Kent opener Daniel Bell-Drummond will skipper the MCC in next month’s Champion County match against Essex with team-mate Sam Northeast also in the line-up.
The day/night fixture, regarded as the traditional curtain-raiser to the English county season, will be played under floodlights across four days at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.
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The Kent duo will also play in the North v South 50-over series that precedes the pink-ball match versus Essex between Tuesday 27 and Friday 30 March.
24 year-old Bell-Drummond, who played in MCC’s 2014 victory over Durham in Abu Dhabi, has scored over 4,000 first-class runs for Kent since making his debut in 2011, and is approaching 4,000 runs in white-ball cricket over the same period.
MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson said: “This is a young, talented and exciting team which we’re very much looking forward to seeing take on Essex, and gaining exposure to the longer format of day/night cricket.
“This group boasts plenty of experience, not in only county cricket but also with several of the England sides. We are lucky to have Paul Collingwood and Fidel Edwards with us who are vastly experienced players at both international and domestic level.
“I’m looking forward to seeing them both in action when they will be able to pass on some of their knowledge to the younger players in the side.
“MCC is delighted to be hosting the Champion County match in Barbados, continuing our collaboration with the ECB. We hope that this match will provide a platform for the iconic Kensington Oval to go on to host a day/night Test Match in the near future.”
Last season’s Champion County match, in Abu Dhabi, was a dramatic affair as 2016 County Champions Middlesex defeated MCC by one wicket, overcoming a 153-run first innings deficit and a hat-trick from MCC’s Craig Overton.
MCC XI to play Essex at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados:
Daniel Bell-Drummond (captain, Kent), Brett D’Oliveira (Worcestershire), Sam Northeast (Kent), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Delray Rawlins (Sussex), John Simpson (Middlesex), Dom Bess (Somerset), Matt Fisher (Yorkshire), George Garton (Sussex), Fidel Edwards (Hampshire).