Lord's looking to the future

Neutral Test matches and Indian Premier League games could be played at Lord's sooner rather later.

Marylebone Cricket Club, who are committed to a £200million redevelopment of the ground, have already held talks with IPL chiefs and billionaire businessman Sir Allen Stanford about hosting top-class Twenty20 matches at Lord's as early as this September.

MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw has recently returned from India, where he visited IPL franchises and met the competition's commissioner, Lalit Modi, to discuss the possibility of bringing the mooted Twenty20 Champions League to English cricket's headquarters.

Bradshaw said: "It is our heartbeat to have major matches, so as well as our England Tests and one-day internationals, we have to look at whether there is the potential to stage other sorts of cricket here.

"We would be very open to staging neutral Tests and, in terms of embracing what's been mooted in terms of IPL, the Champions League or the English Premier League, why not? We have a very open mind."

But Bradshaw's plans could upset the England and Wales Cricket Board, who may not welcome alternative Test matches in a crowded summer schedule and could place restrictions on venues staging internationals.

The last time Tests not involving England were played in this country was in 1912, when Australia faced South Africa at Lord's, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge.