East Bierley left-arm spinner bowler Luke Jarvis was one of the stand-out performers in the MCC squad that returned from their tour of Singapore and Malaysia last Sunday.
The JCT600 Bradford League player took eight wickets in three matches, including an impressive 4-18 from ten overs in the 28-run defeat to the Singapore Cricket Association in Kuala Lumpur last week.
Jarvis was part of a squad of 13 which was led by Bob Baxter and captained by former Lancashire batsman Mark Chilton.
MCC got off to a great start with a two-wicket win over Malaysia at the Kinrara Oval, thanks in the main to Andrew Clarke’s patient 70 not out.
They then went on to record an eight-wicket defeat against Singapore, despite a quickfire 83 from former Hampshire batsman Jono McLean, before suffering a 94-run defeat in the return match with Malaysia in which captain Chilton made 68.
The final match of the series ended in a 28-run defeat to Singapore, despite excellent bowling performances from Jarvis (4-18) and Richmond Cricket Club’s Jack Porter (5-11), reducing the hosts to 114 all out.
The squad then travelled to Singapore, where they gave a series of coaching sessions to some of the country’s brightest young cricketing talent before taking on Singapore Cricket Club in two 50-over matches.
The first game saw the hosts claim a six-wicket victory after successfully chasing down MCC’s 226 all out, in which Preston Nomads CC’s Angus Stewart top-scored with 60.
Then MCC wrapped up the tour with a ten-run win as the hosts fell just short of the tourists’ 307, which was amassed thanks to contributions from Reinhardt Strydom (72), Chilton (55) and McLean (68).
After returning from the tour, Chilton said: “I was delighted to have been asked to lead the team on this tour, and even though some of the results didn’t go the way we would have liked, we gained an awful lot and developed some excellent relationships with local communities, which is much more important.
“We’ve seen first hand the growing popularity of cricket in these two countries, and with the talent that we’ve seen on this tour I think the future is bright for cricket in Singapore and Malaysia.“
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