A brief history of MCC Tours

In 1859, a team led by George Parr toured America, playing two matches at Hoboken, two in Philadelphia and one match at Rochester.   This was the first overseas tour by any English side.  The team, a composite English side that drew from several first class teams before the dawn of international cricket, featured several members of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC - the custodian of the laws of cricket).  The MCC members that took part in that first tour including Alfred Diver, William Caffyn, Thomas Lockyer, James Grundy, and John Lillywhite.  George Parr subsequently joined MCC in 1863.  Thus began MCC’s long love affair with USA.

The 1859 tour was also instrumental in triggering a tradition of visits by international teams to USA including the first such tours by Australia (1878) and West Indies (1886).   Matches versus Gentlemen of Philadelphia (GOP) formed the backbone of many of these tours, and in time, the GOP began to improve and sometimes defeat the visiting teams.  This emboldened the Gentlemen of Philadelphia to undertake overseas tours themselves in 1884.  On the 1884 tour, the GOP played seventeen games on their first tour of England, winning nine, losing four and drawing four.  

The Harvard Crimson noted with satisfaction: “Barring a crushing defeat at the hands of the celebrated Marylebone Club, generally known as the "MCC," which numbers amongst its three thousand and more members, (almost every amateur cricketer of note in England), the record of the team was very creditable.”  This was a USA team's first overseas match against the MCC.

In 1905, an exclusively MCC side toured USA - a forerunner for many such MCC tours.  In 1959, MCC marked the 100th anniversary of the historic tour of 1859 by traveling to USA, playing matches against Philadelphia and Washington DC.  To date, MCC toured USA nine times, including most recently in 2004 when they played seven matches at four venues including New York.

The 2010 tour of MCC (March 14th - 31st, 2010)

Fast forward to 2009, when a tour to North America was planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the 1859 tour of George Parr XI.  That much anticipated tenth tour of MCC to USA was postponed and will now take place in March of 2010 (March 14-31).  For the first time ever, this MCC side will not play any matches in Philadelphia, opting to play all its matches in California and Florida, endowed with better March weather and turf wickets.

Pic (Right): John Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket (Coutesy: MCC)

Without referring to the historic nature of the tour, John Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket said: "MCC’s 2010 touring schedule whets the appetite.  More MCC Members are applying for tours than ever before, and our tours continue to prove themselves beneficial to both our players and, most importantly, cricket in the countries we visit."

MCC Tour of March 2010 - Tour Program

The visitors will land in Los Angeles on March 15th.  After a day of rest on March 16, the MCC side will play an exhibition match against the Southern California Cricket Association (SCCA) on March 17th. 

On March 19th, the USA Western Region team captained by Aditya Thyagarajan will play a 40-over match, to be played at Woodley Field.   Reginald Benjamin will coach the Western Region side, Imran Khan, the Manager of Team USA will assist as manager and Ganesh Sanap of NCCA will be the scorer/statistician for the match.  Following the match, the Hollywood Cricket Club will host a banquet honoring the MCC. 

After playing a Twenty20 match against Hollywood CC on March 20th, the action will shift to the Bay Area where on Sunday, March 21st, a North West side captained by Vijay Beniwal will play a 50-over match against the visitors at the Santa Clara cricket ground on Benton Street.  The region  has also planned a banquet honoring the visitors that evening.

From the San Francisco Bay Area, the visitors will proceed to Sacramento where they will play a 30-over match against the home side on March 22nd.  On March 24th, the MCC will offer coaching to the Western Region’s U-19 and U-15 probables at the Collins Elementary nets in Cupertino.

From California, MCC will travel to Florida, where they will play a Twenty20 match against a West Indian XI on Friday, March 26th.  The tour will end with back to back 50-over matches against USA on Saturday (March 27) and a West Indian XI (March 28th).   All three matches will be played at the Lauderhill Stadium, Central Broward.   The composition of the Western Region, the North West team, Team USA and West Indian squads for the matches against MCC are not yet known and will be published on DreamCricket.com when they become available.

The MCC Squad

Courtesy: MCC

MCC Tour Itinerary - Sunday 14 March - Wednesday 31 March 2010

Past MCC Tours - Statistics (Courtesy of our stats partner - Cricket Archive)

G Parr's XI in North America 1859 (not officially an MCC tour - comprised of several MCC members)

Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1905

Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1907

Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1959

Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1967

Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1990/91

Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1992/93

Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1999

Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 2000

Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 2004