Lord's Middle Ground was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

venue in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

that was established by Thomas Lord in 1811. It was used mainly by

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

for major matches until 1813, after which Lord was obliged to relocate because the land was requisitioned for the cutting of the Regent's Canal.

Matches

The first match known to have been played at Lord's Middle Ground was B Aislabie's XI v G Osbaldeston's XI in July 1811. Arthur Haygarth, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862 Only three first-class matches were ever recorded at the ground, one in each season between 1811 and 1813 at the height of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. James Rice played all three matches of his first-class career at the Middle Ground and, equally, all the matches ever played at the Middle Ground featured James Rice.CricketArchive – first-class matches played by James Rice
Retrieved on 25 December 2010.

Location

Lord's Middle Ground was at North Bank at the north end of

Lisson Grove Lisson Grove is a street and district in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, West End. The street neighbourhood contains a few important cultural landmarks, including Lisson Gallery, Alfies Antique Market, Red Bus Recording Studio ...

, just south of the modern ground. In 1814, Lord opened the present

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, formerly a duckpond in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

. Today, the Beverly House apartment complex stands on the site of Lord's Middle Ground. A commemorative plaque, bearing the MCC monogram, is on the complex's eastern fence.

References

External links

Lord's

{{English cricket venues to 1825 1811 establishments in England Cricket grounds in Middlesex Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in London English cricket venues in the 19th century History of Middlesex Sports venues completed in 1811 Marylebone Cricket Club