RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesRugby might be England and Saracens hooker Jamie George's first love but cricket is still a regular part of his sporting life and career.
It's why he and his club team-mates did not need much persuading to sign up for a rugby versus cricket T20 match against some of the County Championship's top professionals in August, to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
"We [Saracens] do play [cricket] - our warm-up [for] every rugby session - summer, winter, snowing, rain - is one hand, one bounce," George told BBC Radio Somerset.
"The boys love it because they're mad-keen cricket fans."
George will skipper 'Team Rugby' for the game on 19 August at the County Ground in Taunton, in a side that also includes current and former England internationals Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Ben Earl and Max Malins.
Somerset captain Lewis Gregory will lead the opposition to tie in with his testimonial year, with Surrey and England's Jamie Overton and former Somerset all-rounder Peter Trego also on the teamsheet.
George was in the stand at the County Ground for a T20 match earlier this season and bumped into Somerset all-rounder Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who was injured at the time, and the idea was touted.
"I'm actually doing a testimonial year next year and I said the dream would be to play a game of cricket somewhere like this," George, who captained England during this summer's Nations Series, said.
"[Kohler-Cadmore] said: 'Why don't we do it for Lewis' testimonial?' I thought it's an unbelievable opportunity."
Back with his Saracens team, George instantly started pulling a side together.
"We were out to dinner and within seconds we were coming up with a batting order," he said.
"I suggested we should merge teams and they said 'no, we want to take them on', categorically rugby versus cricket."
I'll have 'a Daren Sammy type role' - George
While George and his team-mates are not short of experience, with hundreds of international caps and English Prem games between them, on the cricket pitch it is, of course, a different story compared to their opponents.
However, the rugby squad do have some experience to call upon.
Daly represented Surrey as a teenager and played for England at age-grade level, while Earl similarly played for Kent as an under-15.
"They're both very handy so at least we'll get some runs on the board and then we'll have to scramble around a bit," George, 35, said.
As for what kind of player George will be? "Like a Daren Sammy [former West Indies T20 World Cup-winning captain] type role, I would not bowl and I'd bat at nine or 10 and just be there for morale," he said.
"I'm an old man now but I used to play a lot of cricket back when I was at school."
Gregory, who is Somerset's all-time leading T20 wicket-taker, is happy the game is being played on his turf rather than the other way around and in a rugby match.
"A lot of our lads are excited to see the rugby boys in action and it will be nice to put them under a bit of pressure rather than it being in a rugby game, because that could be a little bit messy," he said.
The decision to support the MND Association was also an easy one for both Gregory and George, with former players in both rugby and cricket having been diagnosed with the disease in recent years.
MND is a neurological condition which affects the brain and spinal cord, and can affect a person's ability to talk, walk and breathe.
Former England and Gloucestershire fast bowler David 'Syd' Lawrence died in 2025, having been diagnosed with MND the year previously.
Doddie Weir, the former Scotland lock, died in 2022, six years after being diagnosed with MND, and having raised millions of pounds and awareness to combat the disease, while former Gloucester lock Ed Slater and former England captain Lewis Moody both live with MND.
"It's a horrible disease and that's why the rugby and the cricket communities are very similar, there's a lot of crossover between the two," George said.
"We look after our own and we want to try to do everything we can to raise as much awareness and hopefully find a cure."
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