Afghan player set for historic debut

Date released: 5 June 2007

For the first time, an Afghan cricketer, Hamid Hassan (left), has been selected to play at Lord's - 'The Home of Cricket'.

Hamid has been named in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team that will face a Europe XI at Lord's on Thursday 7th June.

Hamid was first talent-spotted by the Club when he represented his country in the inaugural MCC v Afghanistan match, in Mumbai, in March 2006. It was a fixture in which MCC's side - led by Mike Gatting, the ex-England captain - was thrashed by 179 runs.

Hamid Hassan and a team-mate, Mohammed Nabi (right), were then invited to spend part of last season at Lord's as MCC Young Cricketers - benefiting from expert guidance by MCC's Head Coach, Clive Radley (a former Middlesex and England batsman).

Commenting on being selected for Thursday's match at Lord's, Hamid Hassan said: "I loved my time as an MCC Young Cricketer, so I'm honoured to be returning to Lord's to play for the Club. It will be a dream come true to play on the most famous ground in the world.”

His selection was welcomed by Mike Gatting, an MCC Committee member: "Hamid has huge potential. He could go a really long way in the game. I'm delighted that he's getting the chance to play at Lord's, and make some cricketing history in the process."

MCC's Head of Cricket John Stephenson, who will also represent the Club in Thursday's game, said: “I am delighted that Hamid will be playing for MCC at Lord's; he was one of our success stories of 2006. He become an MCC Young Cricketer after being talent-spotted, discovered during the Club’s tour to India, by Mike Gatting and our ex-President - Robin Marlar. I’m looking forward to playing alongside him and seeing how much progress he has made."

In addition to John Stephenson (an ex-England batsman) and Hamid Hassan, MCC's side will include Chris Cairns (the former New Zealand all-rounder) and Rob Turner (ex-Somerset) - who will captain the Club.

Europe's team includes two other former MCC Young Cricketers - Kevin O’Brien (who represented Ireland in the recent ICC Cricket World Cup) and Freddie Klokker (Denmark).

The MCC squad in full is:

Rob Turner (Somerset)
Toby Bailey (Northamptonshire)
Darren Bicknell (Nottinghamshire / Surrey)
Guy Bulpitt (Staffordshire)
Chris Cairns (New Zealand / Nottinghamshire)
Aakash Chopra (India)
James Hamblin (Hampshire)
Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan)
Paul Hutchison (Middlesex / Sussex / Yorkshire)
Hitesh Modi (Kenya)
John Stephenson (England / Essex / Hampshire)

Additional information

Cricket's popularity in Afghanistan surged after many of the refugees who had fled the country in the early 1980s, following the Soviet invasion, began to return from Pakistan - where they saw the game and started to play and follow it.

In the last decade, the membership of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation has grown more than twenty-fold - from 500 to 12,000 members (source: Prospect Magazine).

Thursday's match will be 50 overs per side. The gates to Lord's will open at 10am; play is due to begin an hour later.

Admission to Lord's will be free. For those unable to get to the Ground, a ball-by-ball match commentary will be streamed live via: MCC v Europe: ball-by-ball commentary.