John Barclay named as MCC president

The former Sussex captain John Barclay has been nominated as the next president of Marylebone Cricket Club. His appointment was made on Wednesday at Lord's during MCC's Annual General Meeting by Derek Underwood, the current president. His one-year term of office will begin on October 1, 2009.

Barclay made his first-class debut for Sussex against Glamorgan in 1972, aged only 16. He played county cricket until 1986, as a solid batsman and more than useful offspinner, scoring 1,000 runs in a season on four consecutive occasions from 1976. His all-round credentials were to the fore in 1979 when he also took 52 wickets. Appointed captain of his county in 1981, he led Sussex to second position in the Championship. He also captained England Young Cricketers on their tour to the West Indies in 1972.

Elected a Member in 1972, John Barclay's MCC credentials are impressive. He was a member of the MCC touring team to West Africa in 1975-76 and the touring team to Bangladesh in 1976-77 and has served on many MCC committees and sub-committees - including Players and Fixtures, Indoor School (which he chaired between 1993 and 1997), Marketing, Cricket and Laws. He has also spent three periods as a member of the MCC committee, clocking up eleven years service since 1990.

After he retired from first-class cricket John managed two England major tours overseas and became director of cricket and Coaching for the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation.

John's recent book, Life Beyond the Airing Cupboard, won the MCC and Cricket Society book of the year prize only last month. He is also president of the England Schools Cricket Association, chairman of the Sussex Cricket Board and chairman of cricket for Sussex.

Paying tribute to his successor, a man whom he first played against for Kent against Sussex in 1973 (dismissing him twice in the match, for a pair), Underwood said: "He has the same boyish love and enthusiasm for the game now as he did when he made his first-class debut aged 16."