Lord's Pavilion

The Lord's Pavilion is a cricket pavilion at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, England. Designed by Thomas Verity and built in 1889–1890, the pavilion has achieved Grade II* listed heritage designation. Like the rest of Lord's, the pavilion is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) but is also used by Middlesex County Cricket Club and the England national cricket team.

History

The current pavilion was opened in 1890 at a cost of £21,000 after the original pavilion was destroyed by fire.

Until 1999 women – except Queen Elizabeth II – were not permitted to enter the pavilion as members during play, due to the gender-based membership policy of MCC. The 1998 decision to allow female MCC members represented a historic modernisation of the pavilion and its clubs. In 1986 Diana Edulji was refused entry to the pavilion while captaining India on their tour of England. She quipped that the MCC should change its name to MCP (" male chauvinist pigs").

In 2004, the pavilion was closed for a major refurbishment costing £8.2 million. The pavilion seating was extended to the upper levels and certain historic areas, such as the Long Room, were refurbished and redecorated.

Only one batter, Albert Trott in 1889, has ever hit a ball over the top of the pavilion. The now-defunct magazine Cricket Lore offered a prize of £10,000 for several seasons to anyone repeating the feat, but the prize went unclaimed. In 2010, Somerset County Cricket Club captain Marcus Trescothick was reportedly offered £1 million to hit a six over the pavilion.

A notable incident occurred on Day 5 of the second Test match of 2023 Ashes Series when members in the Long Room verbally abused Australian players. Usman Khawaja and David Warner had an exchange of words with one member, and had to be moved away by the security personnel. The incident followed a controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow by Alex Carey which was accused of not being in the Spirit of Cricket. The MCC “unreservedly apologised” to the Australian team, and expelled one member and suspended two others following an investigation.

Rules

The pavilion operates a strict dress code. Men are required to wear "ties and tailored coats and acceptable trousers with appropriate shoes" and women are required to wear "dresses; or skirts or trousers worn with blouses, and appropriate shoes".

Features

Dressing rooms

The pavilion houses dressing rooms designated for home and away teams. Each dressing room has its own balcony, from which players waiting to bat and other team personnel can watch the progress of the game.

Honours boards

If a player scores a century or take five wickets in a Test match innings, their name is placed on one of the Lord's honours boards, which are located in the dressing rooms. England players' achievements are recorded on boards in the home dressing room and those of other nationalities in the away dressing room. Several notable players, such as Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Curtly Ambrose, have failed to qualify to have their names placed on the honours board.

Long Room

The Long Room in the pavilion has been described as "The most evocative four walls in world cricket",''Arm-Ball to Zooter'', Lawrence Booth, Penguin 2006, , pp.150–151.It is a room through which players walk on their way from the dressing rooms to the middle. The walk from dressing room to cricket field at Lord's is long as flights of stairs are involved. On his Test debut in 1975, David Steele got lost "and ended up in the pavilion's basement toilets".

The Long Room is lined with paintings of famous cricketers and administrators, from the 18th century to the 21st. Members of MCC and their guests have free access to the room (there are windows with views of the ground) and will often greet Australian batsmen walking out to bat with "witticisms ... like 'See you soon'". Australian Justin Langer,Langer also played at Lord's on many occasions as a (home) Middlesex player described walking through the Long Room like "being bearhugged by an invisible spirit".

Sightscreens

The Lord's pavilion includes four movable sightscreens, which move on wheels enabling batters to request adjustments in their position for different angles of bowling.

References

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Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster
Tourist attractions in London
Cricket in London
Buildings and structures completed in 1890
Lord's