Ben Cox is looking to create a favourable impression when he remains in the UAE to represent the MCC in the traditional curtain-raiser to the new season against the Champion County.
The wicket-keeper batsman has spent the last two weeks in Abu Dhabi with his Worcestershire team-mates preparing for the 2019 season.
Last summer’s Vitality Blast winners played a mixture of white ball and red ball cricket versus Essex, Somerset and Warwickshire before flying home today (Wednesday).
But Cox will now hop across to Dubai to join up with the MCC squad who will face Surrey at the ICC Global Cricket Academy nursery ground in a four-day game starting on Sunday.
It will be the second appearance in three years in this fixture for the 27-year-old who faced Middlesex and scored 40 and 17 in addition to taking five catches in the 2017 fixture.
Cox, Worcestershire’s double man of the match on Blast finals day at Edgbaston, is aiming to demonstrate his qualities as part of a side captained by England paceman Stuart Broad.
He said: “I found out five or six weeks ago that I’d been selected and it is great to represent the MCC and the badge and what it stands for.
“But you also look forward to who you are playing with and Stuart Broad is my captain and I’m really looking forward to going out there and trying to impress the right people.
“The team was selected a couple of years ago in conjunction with the ECB selectors and getting picked is a good sign that I’m doing something right along the way.
“It helps to keep your name and face in the shop window.
“I just need to be more consistent across all three formats, just letting the keeping look after itself and make sure it’s to a high standard and just being consistent with the bat.”
*Read a full interview with Ben Cox on the Worcestershire CCC website during the next few days.