The Lord's Pavilion is a
cricket pavilion
A cricket pavilion is a pavilion at a cricket ground. It is the main building within which the players usually change in dressing rooms and which is the main location for watching the cricket match for members and others. Pavilions can vary from ...
at
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 ...
in London, England. Designed by
Thomas Verity and built in 1889–1890, the pavilion has achieved
Grade II* listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
heritage designation. Like the rest of Lord's, the pavilion is owned 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 ...
(MCC) but is also used by
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...
and the
England national cricket team
The England men's cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. ...
.
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
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
– 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
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
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
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket 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 County Cricket Club, the Engl ...
, were refurbished and redecorated.
Only one
batter,
Albert Trott
Albert Edwin Trott (6 February 1873 – 30 July 1914) was a Test cricketer for both Australia and England. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1899. He is believed to be the only batsman to have struck a ball over the t ...
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
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...
captain
Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England cricket team, England in 76 Test cricket, Test matches and 123 One Day In ...
was reportedly offered £1 million to hit a
six
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...
over the pavilion.
A notable incident occurred on
Day 5
''Day 5'' is an American post-apocalyptic drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radi ...
of the second Test match of
2023 Ashes Series when members in the Long Room verbally abused Australian players.
Usman Khawaja
Usman Tariq Khawaja (; born 18 December 1986) is an Australian international cricketer who represents the Australia national cricket team in Test cricket and Queensland cricket team, Queensland. Khawaja made his first-class cricket debut for N ...
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
Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who played internationally for England cricket team, England in all formats as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batter. In domestic cricket, he has played for Yorkshire County C ...
by
Alex Carey which was accused of not being in the
Spirit of 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 ...
. 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
A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c.
...
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
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
,
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...
,
Brian Lara
Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...
,
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and is the most successful captain in international cricket history, ...
and
Curtly Ambrose
Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at ...
, 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
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
batsmen walking out to bat with "witticisms ... like 'See you soon'".
Australian
Justin Langer
Justin Lee Langer (born 21 November 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the former coach of the Australia men's national team, having been appointed to the role in May 2018 and leaving in February 2022 and became ...
,
[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
{{Authority control
Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster
Tourist attractions in London
Cricket in London
Buildings and structures completed in 1890
Lord's