November 28, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 17, 1428

LONDON, Nov 27: The MCC has started putting together an attempt for Lord’s to stage games of the ICC World Twenty20 which will be held in England in 2009.

Three venues will be chosen for the event and Keith Bradshaw, the MCC Chief Executive, believes Lord’s should host the trophy decider.

“It’s a shame we have to bid, being the home of cricket, but I accept there are conditions attached,” Bradshaw said. “Over the next two weeks we will be working night and day to prepare the bid. My vision is that we will host the final, the warm-up games and group matches.”

Bradshaw, who attended the first Twenty20 World Championship held in South Africa in September and was highly impressed, however anticipates the next edition to be even bigger.

“It was a superb tournament and proved that Twenty20 is here to stay,” he expressed. The event in 2009 will be massive. I don’t think people have quite realised how big this could be for London and the country.

“Twenty20 cricket is here to stay and it’s the way of the future and we (the MCC) are embracing it. There may have been a perception that the MCC was all about Tests, but that’s not the case at all.”

The last time an international tournament was held in England – the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy – Lord’s missed out on hosting matches with Edgbaston, The Oval and the Rose Bowl selected with the West Indies notably winning in near darkness at The Oval.

The MCC is having to come to terms with the fact that Lord’s is no longer guaranteed key matches, with the development of new grounds such as the Rose Bowl, Cardiff and Bristol.

With this in mind Bradshaw is also preparing to settle the latest round of staging agreements with the ECB and, as was suggested earlier this year, admits there is a chance that Lord’s could find one of its Tests taken away.

“There is talk about us losing one of our Tests, which I find quite insane and unbelievable and I’ll be fighting very hard to keep that,” said Bradshaw. —Agencies