Wanstead & Snaresbrook captain Joe Ellis-Grewal is relishing the chance to play at Lord's tomorrow

The Essex club will take on Marylebone Cricket Club having become National Club Champions last season, thanks to a 12 run victory over Ormskirk in the final last September.

With opportunities to play at Lord’s not coming around too often, Ellis-Grewal is relishing the chance to play at the aforementioned home of cricket, but felt his side will go into the match as underdogs.

He said: “Everyone is really excited. It’s a real honour for the club to be playing at the home of cricket and one of the best cricket grounds in the world. You get treated there like you’re playing for England or any other international side so it will be a great honour for those guys. It’s going to be a really good day out. We’ve got about 100 people coming to watch us.

“Pretty much all of the guys who played in the final last year are playing in the game. Preparation has been terrible to be honest as the weather has been so bad and I don’t think anyone has played cricket yet. We’ve been netting away and it will be really nice to get out there and play at Lords and get our season off and running in a really nice way.”

On MCC he added: “I think they will be very strong. It’s the secretary’s game so it will be one of their high profile games. They’ve got a very good side so I’m fairly certain we’ll be going in as underdogs. But we’ve got some really talented guys in the side and it will be great to see them go out and do their thing and hopefully show a few people why we are the best club side in the country.”

Despite being crowned National Club Champions, the league campaign would end in disappointment for Wanstead last season, after losing out on the title on the final day due to a three wicket defeat to Chingford in a rain-affected match.

That result handed Chelmsford the title and proved to be a bitter pill to swallow for Wanstead, but Ellis-Grewal said the club are looking to go one better this year by being crowned league and National Club champions.

He said: “First and foremost, we want to win the league. We lost out a bit on the last day of the season last year due to the weather, so it would be fantastic to get that league title back.

“We would also like to have another great run in the national. We’ve got another brilliant team again and the same side as last year. All our juniors who played last year are obviously a year older and a year wiser. We’ll be looking to have some great runs in the nationals again, hopefully wrap the league up and really enjoy our cricket again.”