England and Saracens hooker Jamie George (left) will lead a team against Somerset's Lewis Gregory. Rugby might be Jamie George's first love, but cricket remains a significant part of his sporting life and career. This is why he and his club team-mates eagerly signed up for a rugby versus cricket T20 match against some of the County Championship's top professionals in August, all 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, alongside Surrey and England's Jamie Overton, and former Somerset all-rounder Peter Trego.

Earlier this season, George was in the stands at the County Ground for a T20 match and bumped into Somerset all-rounder Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who was injured at the time, where the idea emerged. "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 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 immediately started to assemble a squad. "We were out to dinner, and within seconds we were coming up with a batting order," he recalled. "I suggested we should merge teams, and they said 'no, we want to take them on,' categorically rugby versus cricket."

While George and his team-mates boast extensive experience, with hundreds of international caps and English Prem games between them, playing cricket presents a different challenge compared to their opponents. Despite this, the rugby squad does have some cricket experience. 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, stated.

As for George's potential performance? "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, expressed his happiness that the game is being played on home turf rather than 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 came easily for both Gregory and George, as former players in both rugby and cricket have been diagnosed with the disease in recent years. MND is a neurological condition that affects the brain and spinal cord, altering a person's ability to talk, walk, and breathe. Former England and Gloucestershire fast bowler David 'Syd' Lawrence died in 2025 after being diagnosed with MND the year prior. Doddie Weir, the former Scotland lock, passed away in 2022, six years after his MND diagnosis, having raised millions of pounds for awareness, 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 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."