Of all the venues Lord’s is the most revered cricket ground in the world. It is considered the home of cricket.

In 1814, a Yorkshire cricketer by the name of Thomas Lord, who had moved south to London to seek fortune in the property business, managed to develop what we see as the Lord’s cricket ground. For those who do not know its history, it certainly is not the first Lord’s ground, in fact the third, which Thomas Lord developed from 1787 to 1814 — the first being at the Dorset Square and the second near the Regents Canal. Both places are at a walking distance from the present ground but the idea of a ground there had to be abandoned every time due to the building contractors who had moved in to construct houses and offices near the area.

Lord’s is now owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), one of the most prestigious clubs in England. The ground was also home of the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 1909 to 2005 before the controlling body of the game moved to the UAE.

The MCC Museum is the pride of the Lord’s cricket ground

In London, the tourists keep flocking for conducted tours of the ground, its pavilion, long room and the most treasured cricket museum, which, no doubt, remains the focus of attention for all. Collection of cricket memorabilia for the museum began in 1864, but the museum officially opened in 1953 by the Duke of Edinburgh. It is a treasure trove of artefacts and things such as bats and balls, boots and pads, blazers and flannels of the great men of the game who ever played for their country in the past or play now.

A bat used by Sir Jack Hobbs

Besides other artefacts and memorabilia, the most prized possession in the museum is a terracotta urn which is no bigger than six inches in size and which holds the ashes of cricket bails gifted to Ivo Bligh, the England captain, in the 1882-83 series by a lady called Florence Murphy. That is how ‘The Ashes’ series began although the first ever Test between England and Australia was played in 1877 at the MCG in Melbourne. Florence later married the England captain and after his death she gave the urn to the MCC in 1928.

Legend has it that when England was defeated for the first time in a Test at home, played at The Oval against Australia, in 1882, a mock obituary was published in The Sporting Times in London saying that ‘English cricket has died and will be cremated and its ashes will be taken to Australia’.

This prompted a few Australian ladies to burn a pair of bails and put the ashes in the urn to gift to England’s captain Ivo Bligh. The trophy lies in a glass casket at the cricket museum and it has only once moved from there to be taken to Australia where nearly 100,000 people came to look at it. Whoever wins the series between England and Australia is given its replica and not the original.

Sir Don Bradman’s cap, which he used on the 1930 tour to England, and his pair of boots that he used in his last series there in 1948

At the museum, there are bats used by Sir Jack Hobbs who scored 197 first-class centuries playing for Surrey and England, the most by any batsman in history. There is Australian legend Don Bradman’s cap used by him in the 1930 series in England and a pair of boots he used on his last tour to England in 1948 when he retired, bowled out on the second ball in his last Test innings for a duck. Had he made four runs he would have ended with an average of 100.00 runs per innings instead of 99.94.

Another fascinating object is a sparrow killed in flight at Lord’s when Dr Khan while bowling for Cambridge University to Tom Pierce of MCC in 1936 hit it in flight which dropped dead at the crease. The bird mounted on the ball which Jahangir Khan bowled is a major attraction. His son Majid Khan and grandson Bazid Khan later played for Pakistan.

Manuscripts, Wisden editions, historic documents and letters from officials and players and their belongings such as bats, balls, gloves, caps and paintings decorate the premises. Marble busts of Thomas Lord and W.G. Grace, and portraits of Hammond, Hutton, Hanif and Compton are some of the proud collections of the museum.

There are two cricket balls with which the England off-spinner Jim Laker pulverised the Australians to take 19 wickets in an Ashes Test in 1956 at Old Trafford. He finished with 19 for 90 in the match. No one has ever achieved that feat before or after. Laker umpired in a couple of friendly matches that I played in the 1970s in England for the Cricket Writers’ Club.

The original Ashes trophy

There are photographs, too, of the first ever visitors from India, who played at Lord’s against W.G. Grace and the rest. The Indians were all Parsis, who in 1886 had come to play in England. Two years later another Indian team came up here in 1888, those were also Parsis, who were the first in India to adopt this glorious game from the colonialists. In the first team there were three men from Karachi. The most prolific of them being Pestonji Dastur, a batsman who topped the batting averages on the tour.

There is a photograph of the first Australian team too which consisted of only the indigenous aborigines who came to England in the 1860s.

On my visit to the MCC museum this time I, too, was a bit surprised to find a framed photograph of the Pakistan and Indian teams taken during the 1955 Test at Karachi and shaking hands with Mohammad Ali Bogra, then Pakistan’s prime minister.

First touring Indian cricket team to England

Manuscripts, Wisden editions, historic documents and letters from officials and players and their belongings such as bats, balls, gloves, caps and paintings decorate the premises. Marble busts of Thomas Lord and W.G. Grace, and portraits of Hammond, Hutton, Hanif and Compton are some of the proud collections of the museum.

MCC which is celebrating its bicentenary has now opened the museum free of charge for the spectators and visitors during the match days though there is a fee for conducted tours of this historic venue and its prized possessions, which no doubt attract immense attention for everyone.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 26th, 2015

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