Broad to lead MCC in Champion County Match

Broad will be able to take part in the season curtain-raiser as he is no longer involved with the national ODI side. © AFP

Stuart Broad will captain the MCC in the annual Champion County Match due to take place next month against Surrey.

Broad, who plays for Nottinghamshire in England's domestic system, is currently out with the England team in St Lucia and will be able to take part in the season curtain-raiser as he is no longer involved with the national ODI side. The regular fixture, which sees the previous season's County Champions take on a select XI, will take place in the United Arab Emirates. The four-day match is scheduled to take place from March 24 in Dubai.

Usually, the England management would wrap their prized possession up in cotton wool at the start of the season. Broad, 436 Test wickets in tow, is very much one of them. However, with only six Tests this summer - the first of those coming against Ireland on July 24, ahead of the Ashes - and no chance of Broad breaking into England's World Cup plans, the 32-year-old has plenty of time to kill.

"We are thrilled that Stuart has agreed to captain the side for the Champion County match against Surrey," said John Stephenson, MCC's assistant secretary who is in charge of selection. "He is not only a player of the very highest class, but his experience of over 100 Test matches will be invaluable to the younger players in the squad, and I am sure that they will be eager to learn from one of England's greatest ever bowlers

Last year's match was played at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. MCC defeated the 2017 County Champions Essex by an innings and 34 runs. Warwickshire's Sam Hain and Somerset's Dom Bess scored centuries, while the latter back up his performance with the bat to take a six-wicket haul to see MCC to victory.

The rest of the 2019 MCC side will be named in due course.