The 2nd Test of the
present Series between England and India was to begin at Lord’s yesterday –
people waited – and had to leave without watching a ball being bowled as day 1
play was abandoned due to rain.
Lord’s is Cricket’s
most valued ground ! …. Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC) is the world’s most active cricket club, the owner of Lord’s Ground
and the guardian of the Laws of the game. Founded in 1787, it has been
recognised as the sole authority on the Laws of Cricket since its foundation
and it moved to its current home at Lord’s in 1814. There are 18,000 Full and
5,000 Associate Members of MCC. Those Members own the Ground and all MCC’s
assets (the most famous of which is the Ashes Urn). MCC owns the most
comprehensive collection of cricket artefacts and books in the world, housed in
its Museum and Library at Lord’s.
Lord's Cricket
Ground, generally known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood,
London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC). Lord's today is not on its original site, being the third of three
grounds that Lord established between 1787 and 1814. The current ground celebrated its two
hundredth anniversary in 2014. To mark the occasion, on 5th July 2014 a Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) XI
captained by Sachin Tendulkar played a Rest of the World XI led by Shane Warne
in a 50 overs match. International cricket at Lord’s generates millions of
pounds for the local economy, according to a study commissioned by MCC.
Sachin Tendulkar was
set to ring the bell to signal five
minutes before the start of play on Day One of the second England v India
Specsavers Test match at Lord’s on Thursday.
Other former India internationals to ring the bell at a Lord’s Test are
Sunil Gavaskar, The Nawab of Pataudi Jr, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Kapil
Dev and Sourav Ganguly. In 1990, Tendulkar’s first Test match against England
came at Lord’s, and he was made an Honorary Life Member of Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC) in 2010. For day two, Ted Dexter would l ring the bell which is located outside the Bowlers’ Bar of
the Lord’s Pavilion. The bell is rung to
signify the imminent start of play, and it has become a great honour to be
invited to ring it on the morning of a Test match.
Lord’s is very
close to the centre of London – just under 1 mile from Baker Street – and easy
to reach by road, tube and bus. St John’s Wood is the closest tube station
(approximately 5 minutes’ walk), and Baker Street, Warwick Avenue, Marylebone
and Edgware Road are all within 15 minutes’ walk. Portion of Lord’s, the iconic
cricket ground in England, is up for sale, at just £500 or around Rs 45,000!
The piece of land that is up for grabs is the unused tunnels underneath the
Nursery End at the famous cricket ground, which will make one a token owner of
the Mecca of Cricket. These tunnels were brought by property developer Charles
Rifkind in 1999 when Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) failed to retail them in an
auction. The MCC has rented the top surface from Rifkind, ever since, which has
been subjected to a lot of negotiations over the past 19 years. Rifkind wanted to develop two blocks of
luxury residential flats in collaboration with the MCC on the Nursery Ground
behind the spaceship-shaped media centre of Lord’s, but MCC members voted
against it – followed by which New Commonwealth, chaired by former English
Cricketer David Gower, decided to spread the ownership of their land around the
world.
Supporters
of four-day Tests could feel gratified, even if nobody else was, when the
opening day of the second Test was abandoned without a ball bowled. England’s
inaugural Test against Ireland at Lord’s next July is scheduled to be England’s
first four-day Test, but this one against India is now a four-dayer in effect. The
shorter the game, the more superfluous a second spinner becomes as the pitch
has less scope to wear and tear, though these hours of play have been extended
by half an hour (to 6.30pm), and the number of overs from 90 to 98.
And as the captains
never came close to tossing, both England and India can revise their teams to
suit conditions – and any chance Moeen Ali had of playing instead of Chris
Woakes has receded further. Likewise, on a pitch that will be damp after a day
under covers, India are less likely to play a left-arm spinner. Bowling first,
especially under cloud-cover, with the four pace bowlers they had at Edgbaston,
would be India’s quickest way back into this series against an England side
containing the debutant Ollie Pope at number four. Guardian writes that it is a shame this is not England’s 1000th Test
but their 1001st. MCC do these celebrations rather well; at any rate, if the
ceremony had been at Lord’s, they would have amounted to more than the
presentation of two plaques before the start, as at Edgbaston.
A
parade of former England Test players, or at least of the former captains,
would have been some compensation for the full house that endured a day of
rain. It was the first washed-out Test day at Lord’s since 2001 and left MCC to
refund about £2 million worth of
match-day tickets. Rain insurance will cover the cost of refunds, and the bars
were busy all day, so the financial loss will be relatively small. Strangely, the
England player who had the best day may have been the one who was dropped for
Lord’s, Dawid Malan. He has lost his
Test place, but he has yet to play for England in his most successful format of
50 overs – and there is a possibility that England will have one or even two
vacancies in their ODI team for the World Cup.
So as one door closes, another opens, and it is possible that England’s
World Cup squad – even their team – could contain two Middlesex left-handed
batsmen in the captain, Eoin Morgan, and Malan.
Lord’s experienced
its first washout of a day of Test match cricket play since 2001 on Thursday
leaving the MCC to refund around £2m worth of matchday tickets. Rain insurance
will cover the cost of refunds - Both captains will name their teams on Friday
and the weather may well have changed their plans. The damp conditions will
probably persuade England to play one spinner in Adil Rashid leaving Chris
Woakes clear to resume his Test career after injury in place of the absent Ben
Stokes. India are likely to drop opener Shikhar Dhawan and replace him with
Cheteshwar Pujara, who will bat at three. KL Rahul will move up to open with
Murali Vijay.
Vividly
remember that summer tour in June 1986 when Kapil Dev led us to a victory in
the 1st Test at Lords. It was India’s
first Test victory at Lord's and only
their second in 33 Tests in England. It started well for England – RT Robinson
got out to Maninder making 35 with score at 66; Gooch made 114 and Pringle 63
as England were all out for 294. Chetan Sharma took 5/64; Roger Binny 55/3 –
while Kapil dev who bowled so well ended up 1/67. India replied strongly with
Mohinder 69, Dilip Vengsarkar 126 – totalling 341. In the 2nd innings England
were shot out for 180 – Kapil taking 4 and Maninder Singh 3. The target of 134
was achieved losing 5 wickets. Kapil was
the Man of the match – a good match for Chetan Sharma, who is otherwise
remembered for that one delivery at Sharjah to Minadad.
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
10th
Aug 2018.
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