“It was an honour to be asked to be involved and it will be fantastic to play at such an iconic place on such a special occasion”

Image courtesy of: Sydney Morning Herald

Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara has announced that he feels honoured to be playing in the MCC v Rest of the World Bicentenary match at Lord’s on July 5.

Lara will be part of MCC’s side, which also includes iconic India batsman Sachin Tendulkar and powerful Australian opening batsman Aaron Finch.

“Lord’s always holds a very special place in any cricketer’s heart and I am very much looking forward to helping celebrate its Bicentenary with MCC this summer,” Lara said. “It was an honour to be asked to be involved and it will be fantastic to play at such an iconic place on such a special occasion.”

Tendulkar will captain the MCC side against Shane Warne’s Rest of the World team, which includes former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, Sri Lanka spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

The Rest of the World team will be managed by former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, while the MCC team will be managed by MCC President Mike Gatting.

MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson stated that he was extremely excited by team rosters and “cannot wait to see them put on a show at the Home of Cricket”.

“It’s extremely exciting for us to confirm the full line-ups for this match and I cannot wait to see them put on a show at the Home of Cricket,” he said. “This is a very special year for Lord’s and I’m delighted to see the calibre of players who are so keen to come and celebrate the Lord’s Bicentenary with MCC.”

MCC: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Saeed Ajmal, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Rahul Dravid, Aaron Finch, Umar Gul, Brian Lara, Brett Lee, Chris Read, Shaun Tait, Daniel Vettori.

Rest of the World: Shane Warne (captain), Shahid Afridi, Tino Best, Paul Collingwood, Adam Gilchrist, Tamim Iqbal, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kevin Pietersen, Virender Sehwag, Peter Siddle, Yuvraj Singh.