Steven Davies picked by MCC to face Nottinghamshire in Abu Dhabi

Steven Davies will make his first appearance since coming out as gay for the MCC in the exotic and possibly symbolic surroundings of Abu Dhabi at the end of this month. Attitudes towards homosexuality are ambiguous at best in the United Arab Emirates, but neither the MCC nor the Abu Dhabi embassy in London expect the selection of the Surrey and England wicketkeeper in the team who will face Nottinghamshire in a four-day match that starts on 27 March to cause any controversy. John Stephenson, the former Essex and Hampshire all-rounder who is the MCC's head of cricket and will manage the team, said: "Steven is a hugely talented cricketer – his prolific batting and ability behind the stumps will be an asset to the team – and I am very pleased that MCC can offer him an opportunity to impress the national selectors at the start of the English season. "His recent personal announcement is not an issue for the club, and I look forward to watching him represent MCC for the first time." The Abu Dhabi authorities have still to provide a formal response, but a spokesperson suggested that Davies's inclusion is not even worthy of comment. Davies, 24, has not played since England's last one-day international in Australia at Perth on 6 February, three weeks before he announced his homosexuality in a newspaper interview. He missed out to Matt Prior in England's World Cup squad, but his inclusion in the MCC squad gives him the opportunity to stake an early claim for a recall this summer. Other eye-catching inclusions in the MCC squad are Simon Jones, the 2005 Ashes hero who made major strides in his latest comeback from injury for Hampshire in a Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies earlier this year, and two promising members of the Afghanistan team who narrowly failed to qualify for the World Cup – Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi. With the England Lions on tour in the Caribbean and several counties also preparing for the season on overseas tours, the MCC's selection options were significantly restricted and they have broken with precedent by including a number of overseas players. Chris Rogers, the Australian opener who has joined Middlesex from Derbyshire, will captain the team and the India veteran Rahul Dravid has also been selected, while his former international team-mate Sourav Ganguly will come into the squad for a Twenty20 tournament that follows the four-day match against Notts. The county champions will also be below strength as their promising seamer Andy Carter has been called into the England Lions squad and Darren Pattinson, Andre Adams and Adam Voges have still to return to Trent Bridge after their winter commitments. But Samit Patel will have the chance to impress following public criticism from the England coach, Andy Flower, over his failure to reach the necessary fitness levels to earn a World Cup place. MCC: Chris Rogers (Middlesex & Australia, capt), Steven Davies (Surrey & England, wkt), Rahul Dravid (India), Sourav Ganguly (India), Hamid Hassan (Afghanistan), Simon Jones (Hampshire & England), Gary Keedy (Lancashire), Steve Kirby (Somerset & England Lions), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Stephen Moore (Lancashire & England Lions), Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Stephen Peters (Northamptonshire), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), Omar Ali (12th man, MCC Young Cricketer) Notts (from) : Ali Brown, Jake Ball, Neil Edwards, Scott Elstone, Luke Fletcher, Paul Franks, Alex Hales, Steven Mullaney, Akhil Patel, Samit Patel, Ben Phillips, Chris Read, Charlie Shreck, Mark Wagh, Graeme White.