live cricket scores - Lord's Cricket GroundThursday , September 02 2010 , 02:59 PM 
Lord's Cricket Ground (generally known as Lord's) is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the European Cricket Council (ECC) and, until August 2005, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Lord's is widely referred to as the "home of cricket"[1] and is home to the world's oldest sporting museum. Lord's today is not on its original site, being the third of three grounds that Lord established between 1787 and 1814. His first ground, now referred to as Lord's Old Ground, was where Dorset Square now stands. His second ground, Lord's Middle Ground, was used from 1811 to 1813 before being abandoned to make way for the construction through its outfield of the Regent's Canal. The present Lord's ground is about 250 yards (230 m) north-west of the site of the Middle Ground. A major redevelopment has been proposed for Lord's which would increase capacity by another 10,000 as well as adding apartments and an ice rink. The oldest cricket fixture at Lord's (i.e., one that continues to this day) is the annual Eton v Harrow match, which was first played on the Old Ground in 1805, and on the present Lord's Cricket Ground in July 1818. Much of Lord's Cricket Ground was rebuilt in the late 20th century. In 1987 the new Mound Stand, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, was opened, followed by the Grandstand (by Nicholas Grimshaw) in 1996. Most notably, the Media Centre (by Future Systems) was added in 1998-9 which won The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize for 1999. The ground can currently hold up to 32,000 spectators. The two ends of the pitch are the Pavilion End (south-west), where the main members' Pavilion is located, and the Nursery End (north-east), dominated by the Media Centre. The main survivor of the Victorian era is The Pavilion with its famous Long Room; this was built in 1889-90 to the designs of architect Thomas Verity. Recently, this historic landmark — a Grade II*-listed building — underwent an £8 million refurbishment programme in 2004-05. The pavilion is primarily for members of MCC who may use its amenities including seats for viewing the cricket, the Long Room and other facilities such as the Long Room Bar, the Bowlers Bar, a members shop etc. For Middlesex matches the Pavilion is open to members of the Middlesex County Club. The Pavilion also contains the dressing rooms where players change, each of which has a small balcony for players to watch the play. In each of the two main dressing rooms are honours boards which commemorate all the centuries scored in Test matches on the Lord’s ground and all instances of a bowlers taking five wickets in an innings and ten wickets in a match. Another highly visible feature of the ground is Old Father Time, a weather vane in the shape of Father Time, currently adorning a stand on the south-east side of the field. The Media Centre was commissioned in time for the 1999 Cricket World Cup and was the first all aluminium, semi-monocoque building in the world. It was built and fitted-out in two boatyards and uses boat-building technology. The centre stands 15 metres (49 ft) above the ground and its sole support comes from the structure around its two lift shafts — it is approximately the same height as the Pavilion directly opposite it on the other side of the ground. The lower tier of the centre provides accommodation for over 100 journalists and the top tier has radio and television commentary boxes. The centre’s only opening window is in the broadcasting box used by Test Match Special. The Building was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture in 1999. The Lord's Taverners, a charitable group comprising cricketers and cricket-lovers, take their name from the old Tavern pub at Lord's, where the organisation's founders used to congregate. The pub no longer exists, and the Tavern Stand now stands on its former site. However, a new pub is open in the grounds with the same name as well as the Members Bar, in the Pavilion. One of the most distinctive and famous features of the Lord's ground is the significant slope across the field. The north-west side of the playing surface is some eight feet higher than the south-east side. This slope causes appreciable deviation in bounce of the ball on the pitch, making it easier to move the ball in to right-handed batsmen when bowling from the Pavilion End, and easier to move it away when bowling from the Nursery End. The outfield was notorious for becoming waterlogged and under the chairmanship of the Estates Committee by Maurice de Rohan the whole outfield was relaid over the winter of 2002-2003. The investment (some £2m) was almost immediately repaid by reducing the need to make ticket refunds in rain-affected matches. One of the features of the ground is the pair of ornamental gates, named in honour of W G Grace. In 1923, the W G Grace Memorial Gates were erected at the St John's Wood Road entrance to the ground. They were designed by Sir Herbert Baker and the opening ceremony was performed by Sir Stanley Jackson, who had suggested the inclusion of the words The Great Cricketer in the dedication. Temporary floodlights were installed at the ground in 2007 but were eventually taken down in 2008 due to complaints of light pollution from residents of St. John's Wood. In January 2009, the Westminster Council gave permission to use the newly installed floodlights. These new lights were especially designed for the ground in order to prevent as much light spillage in people's homes as possible. Westminster Council's permission was not without condition. The lights will be allowed for a five year trial period during which up to 12 matches and 4 practice matches can be played under the lights from April to September. The lights must be dimmed to half-strength at 9.50pm and be switched off by 11pm. The floodlights were first used successfully on 27 May 2009 during the Twenty20 Cup match between Middlesex and Kent. Catch all the live cricket scores at cricandcric.com
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