Will Kendall, the Hampshire batsman, has been named as captain of a strong MCC team for their tour of Kenya, which starts on February 28. MCC will play seven matches, including two three-day games against the Kenyan national side in Mombasa and Nairobi. Kendall's side includes one England Test player – Aftab Habib, the batsman who has just agreed an amicable parting from his county, Leicestershire – and two who have recently toured with England – Jason Brown, the Northamptonshire offspinner, who toured Sri Lanka last winter, and Ashley Cowan, the Essex fast bowler, who went to the West Indies in 1997-98.

Most of the other tourists are current county players: Tim Bloomfield and Robin Weston of Middlesex, Neil Burns and Matt Whiley of Leicestershire, Jason Kerr and Lian Wharton of Derbyshire, and Kendall's Hampshire team-mate Giles White. The other players are Richard Kettleborough, who recently retired after playing for Yorkshire and Middlesex, former Lancashire and Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper Stephen Bramhall, and Heath Pedrola, an allrounder from Queensland.

John Holder, the Test umpire, will accompany the side, which is managed by Keith Dennis.

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