Tour Program: MCC Cricket Tour of USA in March 2010

Tour Program: MCC Cricket Tour of USA in March 2010
by DreamCricket USA
Mar 07, 2010

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MCC Tour of USA - 2010: A Brief History and Tour Program

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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

Name	Role	Represented
Frank Russell	Manager	Buckinghamshire CCC; Gerrards Cross CC
Michael Foster	Captain & batsman	Victoria; Reigate Priory CC
Rupert Swetman	Batsman	Old Bristolians; Westbury CC
Shani Kamalia	Batsman	Shepherds Bush CC
Paul Bryson	Batsman	ECB XI; Cheshire CCC; Highfield CC
Torquil Deacon	Batsman	Romany CC
Karl Pearson	All-rounder	Herefordshire CCC; Gore Court CC
Paul Davidge	Wicketkeeper	Huntingdonshire CC; Godmanchester Town CC
Matt Friedlander	All-rounder	Boland; Northamptonshire CCC; Cambdridge MCCU; Cambridge Granta CC
Tom Bartram	All-rounder	Durham MCCU; York CC
Simon Montgomery	All-rounder	Prestbury CC
Paul Terry	Bowler	Chicester Priory Park CC
Will Hodson	Bowler	Durham MCCU; Castleford CC
Ajaz Akhtar	Bowler	Cambridgeshire CCC; Peterborough Town CC
Sid Poole	Umpire	Middlesex League umpire
Don Shelley	Scorer	Middlesex CCC scorer

Courtesy: MCC

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

Date(s)	Info/Match	Venue
Sun 14 March	Team meeting at Lord's	Lord's
Mon 15 March	Depart for LA, USA	Heathrow
Tue 16 March	Acclimatization & nets
Wed 17 March	Coaching session MCC v SCCA (40 overs)	Woodley CC
Thu 18 March	Rest day
Fri 19 March	MCC v Western Region (40 overs) followed by banquet hosted by Hollywood CC	Woodley CC
Sat 20 March	MCC v Hollywood All Stars (20 overs) & transfer to San Jose	Woodley CC
Sun 21 March	MCC v North West Region (50 overs)	Santa Clara Cricket Ground, Benton Street
Mon 22 March	MCC v Sacramento (30 overs)	Sacramento
Tue 23 March	Rest day
Wed 24 March	Coaching in California	Collins Elementary, Cupertino
Thu 25 March	Transfer to San Francisco Fly to Miami
Fri 26 March	Coaching & MCC v West Indian XI (20 overs)	Central Broward
Sat 27 March	MCC v USA (50 overs)	Central Broward
Sun 28 March	USA v West Indian XI (50 overs)	Central Broward
Mon 29 March	Rest day
Tue 30 March	Depart for UK
Wed 31 March	Arrive back in UK