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Stuart Broad named as MCC captain for Champion County match

England bowler to lead side in county curtain-raiser in Dubai on March 24

Stuart Broad claimed a hat-trick  •  Getty Images

Stuart Broad claimed a hat-trick  •  Getty Images

Stuart Broad has been named as MCC's captain for the annual Champion County Match, which will take place against Surrey in Dubai next month.
Broad, who is currently in St Lucia with England's Test team but is no longer a part of the one-day set-up, will use the match as part of his long-term preparations for a delayed first-class leg of England's home summer.
With the build-up to the World Cup dominating the early part of the season, Broad's next international action is likely to come in the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord's on July 24, ahead of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, starting on August 1.
John Stephenson, MCC's assistant secretary, said: "We are thrilled that Stuart has agreed to captain the side for the Champion County match against Surrey. He is not only a player of the very highest class, but his experience of over 100 Test matches will be invaluable to the younger players in the squad, and I am sure that they will be eager to learn from one of England's greatest ever bowlers.
"Surrey were undoubtedly the best side in last season's County Championship and have an extremely strong squad, so it will be a tough challenge for Stuart and his side but one I am sure they will relish."
The rest of the MCC squad will be named in due course, with the four-day game scheduled to begin on March 24.
Broad, 32, is one of only two Englishmen to have taken over 400 Test wickets, and has a special place in MCC's history, as one of only a handful of players to have earned a place on three dressing-room honours boards, with inclusions on the Honours Board five-wicket and ten-wicket hauls in Test matches, as well as his 169 with the bat against Pakistan in 2010.
He has had previous captaincy experience, having led England on 27 occasions in T20Is between 2011 and 2014, including the World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014, and a further three ODIs on the tour of the Caribbean in 2014.
Last year's Champion County match took place in Barbados, where MCC beat the 2017 County Champions Essex by an innings and 34 runs, thanks to centuries from Sam Hain and Dom Bess, who also claimed six wickets.