Huw Turbervill
The best view in the house, from the famous pavilion benches
Marylebone Cricket Club is the world’s oldest and most famous cricket club. It owns the venue that all cricketers would love to play at, Lord’s. It stages the most prestigious match in the cricket calendar (in fact, it stages two Lord’s Tests per summer at the moment). For many, MCC is the 19th county. In recent years a row about ground redevelopment – and the funds needed to finance that – has raged, but a special meeting has, it is hoped by members, drawn a line under the affair. MCC is currently bidding to retain its two Tests per summer for the period 2020–24. That decision should be known in February. It will be a major story if it does not; if it does drop to one, that would obviously have an impact on some of the club’s programmes (but not the rebuilding work). It will also be a shock if the venue is not chosen as one of the venues for the non-county T20 from 2020. For most cricket fans MCC represents history, tradition and prestige; critics argue more should be done, however, to make the club more modern and inclusive.