The ground was named after its founder, Thomas Lord, and is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Lord’s has hosted over 100 Test matches and featured some of the greatest players in the game.
To celebrate the ground’s 200-year milestone, an MCC X1 captained by Sachin Tendulkar faced a World X1 led by Shane Warne.
The match, if you remember, was dominated by Aaron Finch who belted 181
The first Test: Lord’s was actually the third English ground to host a Test after The Oval and Old Trafford. In July 1884 it hosted its first Test and the 15th overall as England, led by Lord Harris and featuring the inimitable WG Grace, won by an innings and five runs in three days. Fast scoring was hardly the fashion back then as the Aussies, batting first, scored 229 from 105 overs. The hosts replied with 379 from 184 overs. There was no keeping bowlers in cotton wool as Aussie openers Fred Spofforth and Joey Palmer bowled 130 overs between them. Australia couldn’t make the Poms bat again after being dismissed for 145. English bowler George Ulyett bowled 39 overs and took 7-36
Most memorable Lord’s Ashes Tests: Maybe not the best by a competitive standard but for complete domination it would be hard to go past the 1993 Ashes Test when Australia’s top three of Taylor, Slater and Boon all scored centuries before the fourth, Mark Waugh, let the team down with 99. Shane Warne claimed eight wickets as Australia won by an innings and 62 runs
Tradition: The Queen meets with the Australian team during an Ashes Test at Lord’s. The great DK Lillee once broke protocol by asking for her autograph
Failure rate:Tendulkar only scored 195 runs from nine innings, Lara fared worse with 126 runs from six innings. Ponting’s top score was just 42 while Kallis couldn’t pass 31
James Anderson made his Lord’s debut as a 20-year-old in 2003 against Zimbabwe. It was certainly a debut to remember as he took five wickets and England won easily. Twelve years and 16 Lord’s Tests later, he is clearly the leading wicket-taker at the ground with 75. And, worryingly for the Aussies, his average of 26.61 is much better than his career average of 29.39
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