Simon Jones withdrawn from MCC squad

The former England seamer Simon Jones has been forced to withdraw from the MCC squad to face the champion county, Nottinghamshire, in the English-season curtain-raiser in Abu Dhabi next week. He has experienced some discomfort in his knee and has been withdrawn as a precautionary measure, to be replaced by the MCC Young Cricketer, Paul Muchall.

Muchall is a batting all-rounder who had an excellent season for the YCs in 2010, scoring over 550 runs in the Second XI Championship, and also played well for Kent in the CB40 tournament towards the end of the summer. He is currently captaining the YCs side in a pre-season training tour in Abu Dhabi, and will provide cover for the MCC Champion County squad.

"It is a shame that Simon has had to pull out of the match, but I am very pleased to welcome Paul Muchall into the squad," said John Stephenson, MCC's Head of Cricket. "One of MCC's key objectives is to provide a pathway into the professional game for talented young cricketers, and this represents another avenue for Paul to develop his game, and share a dressing room with some very experienced players. I am sure that Paul will be raring to get stuck in and make the most of the opportunity."

One of the men he will be able to learn from is the former India captain Rahul Dravid, who is a prominent member of the MCC World Cricket Committee. Dravid will be joined by England wicketkeeper Steven Davies and the side will be led by former Australia opener Chris Rogers who has joined Middlesex.

Other notable inclusions for the four-day game at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium which, as in 2010, will be played under floodlights using a pink ball, are the Afghanistan pair of Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi, who are former MCC Young Cricketers. Sourav Ganguly will replace Dravid for a Twenty20 event which follows the four-day match and also features Nottinghamshire, Durham and a Fly Emirates XI.

MCC squad Chris Rogers (capt), Stephen Moore, Rahul Dravid (four-day only), Stephen Peters, Dawid Malan, Mohammad Nabi, Steven Davies, Hamid Hassan, Gary Keedy, Paul Muchall, Steve Kirby, Toby Roland-Jones, Sourav Ganguly (T20 only), Omar Ali (12th man)

Nottinghamshire squad Ali Brown, Jake Ball, Neil Edwards, Scott Elstone, Luke Fletcher, Paul Franks, Alex Hales, Steven Mullaney, Akhil Patel, Samit Patel, Ben Phillips, Chris Read (capt & wk), Charlie Shreck, Mark Wagh, Graeme White