Afghanistan team off to London for MCC clash at Lord's

For the first time after becoming a full-time ICC member and a Test playing nation, the Afghanistan Cricket Team is set to play their historic match against MCC at Lord’s. The Afghan cricketers on Wednesday left their home country for London.

They will play the 50-over match against the Brendon McCullum-led side on July 11. Apart from McCullum, they will also face the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq who are also in the squad to play Afghanistan.

The 50-over fixture will be Afghanistan’s first at the Home of Cricket and will be played on the pitch being used for the England v South Africa Investec Test match, which is due to conclude on Monday 10 July. A similar fixture last year saw the MCC team losing to Nepal in front of a crowd of nearly 6,000 at Lord’s.

“We have a very important match against world’s best 11-member team. The match holds historic value… You should prove your ability and show to the world that we have opened a new chapter for improvement after gaining ICC full membership,” Shukrullah Mashal, the chairman of Afghanistan Cricket Board, told the departing players.

MCC has a long association with cricket in Afghanistan and two of the Associate nation’s star players, Mohammad Nabi and Hamid Hassan, were both a part of the MCC Young Cricketers program. After the entry of Afghanistan and Ireland as full-time members, not only will there be two new Test playing nations, Test and ODI leagues are expected to bring greater context to international cricket.

The squads

Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (C), Noor Ali Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Shafiqullah Shafaq, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Javed Ahmadi, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Afsar Zazai, Nasir Jamal, Farid Ahmad Malik

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC): Brendon McCullum (C), Kumar Sangakkara, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul-Haq, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Samit Patel, Chris Read, George Dockrell Chris Rushworth, Stuart Meaker, Tim Murtagh