Sourav Ganguly will captain Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in a side featuring cricket great Brian Lara when they face the touring Pakistanis in a Twenty20 fixture at Lord's on June 27. The match will be the first time that MCC, which owns Lord's, has played a Twenty20 fixture. It will also be the first time Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has played at Lord's since his man-of-the-match winning display in last year's World Twenty20 final win against Sri Lanka. Lara, the former West Indies captain and one of cricket's greatest batsmen, will be playing for MCC for the first time. Former India captain Ganguly, also a left-handed batsman, is currently skippering the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Among those also confirmed to play for MCC are Sri Lanka left-arm pace bowler Chaminda Vaas and Australian one-day specialist Ian Harvey. “MCC is delighted to welcome to Lord's a Pakistani side who have a proven track record in Twenty20 cricket,” said John Stephenson, MCC's head of cricket and himself a former England batsman, in a statement. “The match will provide spectators with a fantastic opportunity to see wonderful cricket and great cricketers.” The Twenty20 match forms part of the sponsorship agreement between MCC and the Pakistan Cricket Board which will see Pakistan play Australia in the MCC Spirit of Cricket Test and Twenty20 Series in England throughout July, with both Twenty20 matches at Birmingham's Edgbaston ground. The two Tests between Pakistan and Australia, at Lord's and Headingley will be the first ‘neutral' Tests to be played in England in nearly a century since the 1912 triangular tournament featuring England, Australia and South Africa. Pakistan will also play four Tests and five ODIs against England starting in July. ‘Cricket going strong' International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat insisted the sport had “never been stronger” as he announced plans to give more countries a shot at qualifying for the World Twenty20. The qualification tournament has previously involved six or eight teams and saw Afghanistan and Ireland compete alongside the elite Test nations at this year's World Twenty20 in the West Indies, won by England last month. But now it will be expanded into a 16-team competition. This will take place in early 2012 ahead of that year's next edition of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.
