Marylebone Cricket Club CEO Derek Brewer "has warned that the club’s investment in cricket and redevelopment of Lord’s will be threatened if the ground does not host two Tests per summer," according to Nick Hoult of the London TELEGRAPH. More than 100,000 spectators "are expected at Lord’s over the next four days, underlining the ground’s status as the home of Test cricket" and providing ample evidence that it should continue to host two Tests. Despite the fact the third Investec Test against Sri Lanka "is a dead rubber, the first three days of the match are sold out, with only a handful of tickets remaining for Sunday." Lord’s is guaranteed to host two Tests per summer until '19 after paying an estimated £15M ($22M) four-year staging fee to the England and Wales Cricket Board in '14. But the MCC has suspended the £81M ($117.2M) redevelopment of the south western corner of Lord’s due to the lack of certainty over Test cricket after '19. Brewer: "All venues do need security of cash flow and, at the moment, we have only got security of cash flow until '19 and a number of venues in this country have significant debts and we have a very ambitious building program and that clearly needs funding." With crowds dwindling outside London and the rise of Twenty20, there is "the possibility of a reduction from the current number of seven Tests per summer" when fixtures from '20 onward are formalized by the Int'l Cricket Council. If England is reduced to six, or five, Tests per summer, it will be "unfeasible for Lord’s to continue to host two, with the Oval guaranteed the last match of the summer under the terms" of its staging agreement with the ECB until '22 (TELEGRAPH, 6/8).
PITCH GETS GO-AHEAD: In Edinburgh, Duncan Smith reported Pro12 Rugby side Glasgow Warriors "have been given the green light install an artificial pitch at their Scotstoun Stadium." Glasgow City Council approved plans that will see a "synthetic playing surface installed and improvements to the existing athletics facilities." The project will be jointly funded by the Council, Scottish Rugby/Glasgow Warriors and sportscotland "and it is hoped that work will start later this month with completion expected ahead of the new rugby season" (SCOTSMAN, 6/9).
