Opening batsman Angus Stewart helped Preston Nomads CC retain the Sussex Premier League title in 2013 alongside the Gatting brothers Joe and Oliver, and he flew off to Malaysia this weekend on an MCC tour with encouragement from another Gatting.

Uncle Mike Gatting, this year's MCC president, chatted to the players before their departure to Kuala Lumpur under the captaincy of Mark Chilton, and the experience in Malaysia and Singapore should prove to be be good experience for Stewart, a former Sussex Academy member.  

Chilton, the former Lancashire captain, leads the MCC on their first overseas tour of 2014, with Bob Baxter as tour manager. A lively itinerary starts with a 50-over match against Malaysia Cricket Association on Tuesday at the Kinrara Oval, the first contest in a five-game round-robin tournament between MCC, Malaysia Cricket Association and Singapore Cricket Association. The top two sides meet again in a final on Sunday 16 February.

MCC travel from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore the following day, undertaking coaching sessions for young cricketers over two days at the Kallang Cricket Ground, the home of Singapore CC. The tour will finish with the showpiece 50-over match against Singapore at Padang before an evening reception.

This is the fifth time MCC have sent a squad to Singapore and Malaysia. The club visited Malaya at the end of a tour to New Zealand in 1960/61 before the first joint tour of Singapore and Malaysia took place in 1970, led by former MCC president Tony Lewis. The party included Geoff Boycott, who scored an unbeaten 144 in a match against the Malaysia Cricket Association President’s XI. MCC sent another squad to Singapore and Malaysia in 1994, led by Giles Toogood, before touring Singapore only in 2001. Further tours to both countries followed in 2002 and 2005.

Chilton said: “This is the first time I’ve been involved with an MCC touring party and it was a privilege to be asked to captain the side. I’m very much looking forward to getting out there now. It’s always great to see cricket gaining popularity in places where it’s not been traditionally played, and hopefully our tour to these two great countries can get some more locals interested in the game and the work of MCC.”

MCC tour party to Singapore and Malaysia

Mark Chilton (capt, Bowdon CC)
Eddie Ballard (Bishops Stortford CC)
Andrew Clarke (MCC Young Cricketers)
Edward Kilbee (Goatacre CC)
George Harper (High Wycombe CC)
Harry Horsley (Coventry & North Warwickshire CC)
Gareth James (Brentwood CC)
Luke Jarvis (East Bierly CC)
James Kerr (Carlton CC)
Jonathan McLean (Radlett CC)
Jack Porter (Richmond CC)
Angus Stewart (Preston Nomads CC)
Reinhardt Strydom (Dublin CC)

Manager: Bob Baxter
Umpire: Michael Burns