DORRIDGE CC player Ben Shepperson was selected to represent Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for their overseas tour in Spain last week at the Desert Springs Cricket Ground.
Shepperson was part of the MCC’s touring squad who hosted a Spirit of Cricket Tournament in Almería, Spain and featured in matches against the host nation and Austria.
MCC were beaten by four wickets in their match with Austria with Shepperson scoring one run from three deliveries before being dismissed having been third in at the crease.
However, Shepperson impressed in MCC’s defeat against Spain scoring 24 runs from 23 deliveries having come into bat fourth in the order – MCC eventually lost by 12 runs by virtue of the DLS method.
Overseas tours returned for the first time in 18 months after both the men’s and women’s touring programmes were put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The men’s T20 tournament brought together four European countries – Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain – with MCC providing two strong squads and assisting with coaching sessions.
The tournament was split into two separate stages – with MCC, Germany and Italy playing each other between 13 and 15 November, before Austria and Spain played another MCC team between 17 and 19 November.
MCC’s squads were made up of players who represent the club throughout the course of the year with Chris Swallow and Thomas Rash the captains of the respective sides who are managed by Yasir Arafat and Paul Davidge.
The club received support from both ICC Europe and Cricket España, as well as the nations involved, in organising the tournament with Sporta Tours and Desert Springs arranging the logistics and hosting the event.
The club had been due to visit the Czech Republic, Nepal, Spain and Uganda in 2020, having already toured Argentina and Pakistan in the early part of the year before the pandemic took hold.
