Former YCs' international success

Date released: 4 June 2008

Four former MCC Young Cricketers (YCs) have been enjoying success on the international stage recently.

Taylor during the Test Match at Lord's Fans at Lord's will have witnessed first hand the talents of New Zealand’s Ross Taylor, in the npower Test Series against England.

Taylor, who spent a year with the MCC Young Cricketers in 2002, was at his destructive best in the second Test at Old Trafford, hitting a superb 154 not out in the first innings.

The second former MCC YC excelling for his country is the West Indies', Darren Sammy.

Darren Sammy in one-day action for West Indies at Lord's Darren was a YC in 2003 and 2004 and his all-round talents were soon recognised by his country's selectors. He is currently playing in the Test series against Australia.

World Cup quest

Completing the quartet are middle order batsman Mohammad Nabi and fast bowler Hameed Hasan, MCC Young Cricketers in 2006 and 2007.

They were both instrumental in Afghanistan’s victory in the ICC World Cricket League Division 5, culminating in Saturday’s victory in a tense final against Jersey.

Hameed Hasan & Mohammad Nabi at Lord's in 2007 In a low-scoring match, Afghanistan achieved a victory target of 81 runs with two wickets and 12.2 overs to spare.

Hameed had earlier ripped through Jersey's lower-order with some hostile fast bowling, finishing as the pick of the Afghanistan bowlers with figures of 4/27.

Afghanistan thus take a step closer to qualifying for the ICC World Cup in 2011. There are still a number of hurdles to cross though. Next up for the Afghans will be Jersey (again), Hong Kong, Fiji, Tanzania and Italy in the six-team ICC WCL Division 4, in October.

Mohammad and Hameed first came to the attention of MCC when they excelled during the inaugural MCC v Afghanistan fixture played in Mumbai in 2006.

Club Captain for that fixture, former England captain Mike Gatting, was hugely impressed and MCC subsequently invited the two players to spend time at Lord’s and develop their game.

Hameed later become the first Afghan to play cricket at Lord's (for MCC against Europe) while Mohammad represented the Club against Sri Lanka ‘A’.

All four honed their game under Clive Radley, who has been MCC Head Coach since 1991. Radley's contribution to cricket was recognised with the award of an MBE in February this year.

'Rad' has achieved considerable success with the MCC Young Cricketers, something borne out by the stats – an impressive 30% of all YCs go on to sign professional contracts.