Lord’s Cricket Ground - the home to tradition and history of cricket - Opinion
The fate of the three-match Test series between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and England will be decided at Lord’s. As much as the record-keepers would frantically rummage through the history books to prove the decider as a historical encounter in recent memory, the venue
that will host the Test match is entrenched as firmly in history as the game itself. Playing at Lord’s is a dream of any cricketer, donning ‘the whites’ of his country with grace.
The Lord’s Cricket Ground or Lord’s was named after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Thomas-Lord-c93635, who founded it in the late eighteenth century. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) owns the ground which is also home to the Middlesex County Club, European Cricket Council (ECC) and England and
Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Since 1909 it also remained the headquarters of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 until their relocation to a more modern setup in Dubai in 2005.
Way before the time of WG Grace and Donald Bradman, the English nobilities and aristocracies occupied the green cricketing fields all across London, with the game remaining exclusively in the hands of the elite. But as the population in London grew, it started
to attract the masses; the nobility got impatient and felt their privacy was under some threat due to the growing number of crowds. They finally approached Thomas Lord, who was requested to set up a private ground.
Dorset Fields in Marylebone (modern day Dorset Square) was chosen as the first site for the venue. The first match that was hosted between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Essex-c783 was played on 31st of May 1787, which also symbolised the establishment of the Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC). A year later, the first Code of Laws of the game were laid down and devised a standard by which Cricket is still played today.
After a few years in Marylebone the venue was then moved to Regent’s Park and was finally shifted to St. Johns http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wood-c98110, a site of a former duck pond, in 1814 where it remains a home to MCC till date.
So far 124 Test matches have been played at Lord’s with 77 wins and 47 draw matches - 118515 runs have been scored and 3757 wickets have been taken on the ground. England has played the most number of matches (122), which is also the highest number of Test
matches by a single team on any venue.
Englishman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AJ-Strauss-c964 (122) is the last man to do so. So far 223 centuries have been made at the venue - 123 by the hosts and 100 by the visiting
teams - the biggest of which was scored by former Poms skipper and current batting mentor, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013.
The first five-wicket haul was recorded by E. Peate in 1884 with figures of 6-85, while the latest is attributed to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760. 162 five-fors have so far been taken - 88 by the English bowlers and 74 by the opposition
bowler – which also incorporates 25 ten-wicket hauls (15 for England and 10 for visitors). For England the best bowling figures were 15-104 by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in 1934, and R.A.L. Massie from Australia took 16-137 against the home side in 1972,
which are till now the best bowling figures at Lord’s.
With the decider of the ongoing three Test-match Investec series underway, a sense of history, tradition and culture – all unique to the home of cricket – will still hold firm in both camps irrespective of the result.
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