SOMERSET spinner Dom Bess has been selected by the MCC for the champion county clash against Essex in Barbados.

The traditional curtain-raiser ahead of the county season takes place between March 27-30, following the ECB North v South series - in which Bess will represent the south.

Exeter-born Bess, 20, has taken 49 wickets at 22.59 in just 12 First Class matches for Somerset, while he also scored his maiden County Championship half-century against Surrey in Taunton last year.

The day-night match will be played with a pink Dukes ball, with former England batsman Paul Collingwood also included in the MCC squad.

Somerset had two representatives in the MCC side last year as Jack Leach and Craig Overton played against Middlesex, with Overton taking a hat-trick in Abu Dhabi, though the 2016 champions ran out one-wicket winners.

MCC XI: 

Daniel Bell-Drummond (C) (Kent, England Lions)

Brett D'Oliveira (Worcestershire, England Lions)

Paul Collingwood (Durham, England)

Sam Northeast (Kent, England Lions)

Sam Hain (Warwickshire)

Delray Rawlins (Sussex, Bermuda)

John Simpson (W-K, Middlesex)

Dom Bess (Somerset)

Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire)

George Garton (Sussex, England Lions)

Fidel Edwards (Hampshire, West Indies)