Samit Patel to lead MCC in Hong Kong Sixes 2017

Former English all-rounder Samit Patel is all set to lead the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side in the Hong Kong Sixes’ edition this year. MCC will be making their debut in the tournament this season and they have opted for the 32-year-old to lead the team. Samit Patel played 32 ODIs for England to go with six matches in the longest format.

The latest edition of this tournament is the first one conducted after 2012, which received quite a lot of attention and garnered great publicity. South Africa won the final of the previous edition, beating Pakistan by a handsome margin. Some big names in the fraternity like Umar Akmal, Brad Hodge, David Miller, Chamara Kapugedara, Yasir Shah and Kamran Akmal took part for their respective national teams the last time.

Interestingly, MCC will be the first ever club to take part in this 5-over per side competition. Samit Patel, who performed exceedingly well for Nottinghamshire this season, earned the player’s player of the year award. His form saw him ditch various big names and earn the captaincy responsibility of the oldest cricket club in the world.

We are very excited: MCC Head

MCC Chief John Stephenson reckoned it was a great pleasure for their club to be taking part in this tournament. “We are very excited to be taking a team to the Hong Kong Sixes tournament,” said  Stephenson. “MCC has recently completed a successful tour of China and Hong Kong, and involvement in this event will continue to outline our commitment to growing the game in this area of the world,” he added.

“We have selected a strong squad with a good amount of international experience amongst it and we look forward to playing exciting, competitive cricket in what is an innovative format of the game,” Stephenson concluded. Other than MCC, Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, New Zealand Kiwis, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa are the other teams that will be combating for the trophy.