The Lord’s Cricket Ground was formally established in 1814 and is considered the Mecca of cricket.
The ground, located at St John's Wood, London, is one of the three grounds established by former England cricketer Thomas Lord. It was originally a duck pond.
The first international match played at the Lord’s Cricket Ground was the second Test between England and Australia in 1884. A valuable knock of 148 from Allan Steel helped the hosts register a victory by an innings and five runs.
Since then, the Lord’s has hosted 148 Tests, 68 ODIs and 10 T20Is.
The Lord’s Cricket Ground is the home of Marylebone Cricket Club and the Middlesex County Cricket team. The stadium has a seating capacity of 31,100.
Lord’s Cricket Ground Test records
Highest team total – Australia’s 729/6d against England in 1930 is the highest Test score at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Don Bradman’s knock of 254 and skipper Bill Woodfull’s 155 guided the Aussies to a mammoth total after England’s first innings score of 425 in the second game of the five-match Test series. Australia won the match by seven wickets, and would go all the way to win the Test series 2-1.
Lowest team total – Ireland’s 38-all out is the lowest Test score at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Chasing a target of 182, England bowled out the visitors within 15.4 overs with Chris Woakes scalping six wickets for just 17 runs. Opener James McCollum was the only player to score runs in double digits (11 runs).
Most runs – Former England captain Graham Gooch has aggregated the most Test runs at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, with 2015 runs in 22 matches at an average of 53.02.
Highest individual score – Graham Gooch hit 333 runs against India in 1990, the highest individual score for a Test batter at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. The former skipper smashed 43 boundaries and two sixes in his blitzkrieg knock that helped England earn their highest Test win against India at the venue by runs (247 runs). As things stand, he is the last Englishman to score a triple hundred in red-ball cricket.
Most wickets – James Anderson is the bowler with the most Test wickets at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, scalping 117 wickets in 27 matches at an economy rate of 2.71.
Best bowling figures in a match – Bob Massey’s haul of 16 for 137 for Australia against England in 1972 is the best bowling figures in a Test match at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. After registering a haul of 8 for 84 in the first innings, the right-arm medium pacer returned with eight wickets at the cost of just 1.93 runs in his 27.2 overs.
Best bowling figures in an innings - Ian Botham’s 8/34 in the 1978 Test against Pakistan is the best bowling figures in an innings at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. After going wicketless in the first innings, Botham grabbed eight wickets to help England bundle out Pakistan for 139 and walk away with victory by an innings and 120 runs.
Featured photo: AFP / Gluyn Kirk
