Lord's could stage neutral tests

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A Test not involving England has not been staged in this country since 1912, but the possibility of such neutral series in England was mooted this year after Australia refused to tour Pakistan on security grounds.

The MCC, who are committed to a £200million redevelopment of Lord's, have already held talks with IPL chiefs and billionaire businessman Sir Allen Stanford over the possibility of bringing top-class Twenty20 matches to the stadium.

MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw has just returned from India, where he visited IPL franchises and held talks with the competition's commissioner, Lalit Modi, about the possibility of bringing the Twenty20 Champions League to Lord's.

Bradshaw said in the Guardian: "It is our heartbeat to have major matches, so as well as our England Tests and ODIs, we have to look at whether there is the potential to stage other sorts of cricket here such as neutral Test matches.

"We would be very open to staging neutral Tests and, in terms of embracing what's been mooted in terms of IPL, the Champions League or the English Premier League, why not? We have a very open mind.

"I have been very impressed by what I have seen of the IPL over the last few days and we have been on the front foot, making it clear that they would be most welcome at Lord's either for IPL matches or the Champions League."