Next MCC President: Doug Insole

Date released: 5 May 2006

Doug Insole will serve as the next President of Marylebone Cricket Club; his one-year term of office will begin on 1st October 2006.

The announcement of his appointment was made this afternoon (Wednesday 3rd May) at Lord's, during MCC's Annual General Meeting, by Robin Marlar - the current Club President.

Doug Insole has made an enormous contribution to cricket, on and off the pitch, over many years. He played for Essex CCC for seventeen years (and captained the county for ten of them); he represented England in nine Test matches; he served as an England Test selector for ten years; and he managed two England tours of Australia (in 1978-79 and 1982-83).

A past chairman of both Essex CCC and the Test & County Cricket Board, Doug Insole currently chairs the European Cricket Council.

For his many services to cricket, Doug Insole was appointed CBE in 1979. He became a Life Vice-President of MCC in 1993 - 40 years after he first joined the Club's Cricket committee. He subsequently served the Club in a wide range of important roles: for instance, he was a member of the main MCC Committee for a total of over 30 years (spread across five separate periods) and a Club Trustee from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

In addition to his distinguished playing record as a cricketer, Doug Insole was an accomplished footballer. He won three Blues for football - as he did for cricket - while at Cambridge University, and captained the University at both sports. He also played for Southend United, the Corinthian Casuals and Pegasus - serving as the club's first captain. In 1956, he appeared in the FA Amateur Cup Final.

Born in Clapton in 1926, Doug Insole's year as MCC President will end in 2007 - 60 years after he made his debut in first-class cricket.

In his cricketing career, he played in 450 first-class matches, scored over 25,000 runs and hit more than 50 centuries (including one Test hundred, against South Africa): indeed, he is one of the very select group of batsmen to have scored a century against every first-class county other than his own.

Doug Insole is already the President of Essex CCC.