Pontarddulais cricketer selected for MCC tour of Thailand

• Jean-Paul Rees selected to represent MCC on overseas tour which begins this week
• MCC will play five matches, in both T20 and 50-over formats, as well as coach local youth players during the trip

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) complete their touring programme for 2018 this week as a 13-man squad of Playing Members from around the United Kingdom departs for Thailand, and Jean-Paul Rees of Pontarddulais Cricket Club has been selected for the tour.

The twelve-day trip is the last of four overseas tours which have taken place this year, following trips to Brazil and Chile, Sweden and Kenya.

MCC will play a variety of 50 and 20-over fixtures during the trip. The squad will arrive in Bangkok later this week, and the tour will open with a 50-over match against a Thailand XI, at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in LatKrabang, towards the east of the city.

Two further 50-over matches against the same opposition will bookend a T20 match against a Thailand Invitational XI.

The squad will then depart for Chiang Mai, in the north of the country, where they will play 50 overs a side against a Chiang Mai XI at the PremTinsulanonda International School Ground.

Their final match will be against a Chiang Mai Lanna Cricket Club at the historic Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club, which has hosted cricket since 1899.

During the course of the tour, the squad will undertake coaching sessions with local youth cricketers and schoolchildren.

The tour will be managed by Dean Morrison, an Australian-born batsman who went on to represent Jersey in ICC tournaments. He has been MCC’s Channel Islands Tour Manager since 2015, and also managed the Club’s tour to Uganda in 2013.

Chris Holt, who plays for Burnley Cricket Club in the Lancashire League, will captain the MCC squad which includes representatives from around the UK, including Oxfordshire, South Wales and the North-West.

MCC Head of Cricket, John Stephenson, said: “The aim of our overseas tours is to maximise the Club’s impact and effectiveness in widening cricket’s international appeal.

“Cricket tours provide a valuable opportunity for cricketers from both the touring side and the host country to broaden their cricket experience. MCC’s tour to Thailand will see the Club’s Playing Members face unfamiliar conditions whilst exposing Thai cricketers to different techniques and playing styles.”

Tour Party:

Dean Morrison (Tour Manager)
Chris Holt (Captain, Burnley CC)
John Barrett (Oxford CC)
Daniel Brown (Cheadle CC)
James Brown (Wimbledon CC)
Ross Clarke (Hoddesdon CC)
Ryan Driver (Truro CC)
Christopher Glasper (Ealing CC)
Gregory Holmes (Cardiff CC)
Christopher James (Eastcote CC)
Richard Kaufman (Old Northamptonians CC)
Richard Lawrence (Phoenix CC)
Jean-Paul Rees (Pontarddulais CC)
Luke Smith (Sutton CC)

Matches: