JIMMY ANDERSON, GREG JAMES AND FELIX WHITE WILL HOST AN EVENING OF CRICKET CHAT AND DISCUSSION LIVE FROM LORD'S, BRINGING AN ENTERTAINING TWIST TO THE USUAL FORMAT.
The Tailenders will be joined by special guests, ex- England International Stuart Broad and Isa Guha, on stage for an informal evening of cricket chat and discussion in front of an audience of 600 guests – live from the Nursery Pavilion on Thursday 21 March.
Members tickets were distributed via ballot and are now no longer available, however, the event will be live streamed for free via Lord’s YouTube and Facebook channels. Log on from 6.40pm to enjoy this one-off event from the comfort of your home.
You can also view previous MCC Cowdrey Lectures delivered by cricketing enthusiasts and legends such as Sir Andrew Strauss (2023), Stephen Fry (2021) and Mike Brearley (2019) – see below for the full list.
History
The event is named after Lord Colin Cowdrey, the former England captain who is credited with initiating the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ – an outline for fair play that was later officially added as a preamble to the Laws of Cricket.
Lord Cowdrey passed away in December 2000 and in his memory, the Cowdrey Lecture was born. The first lecture took place in 2001 and was delivered by the former Australian captain Richie Benaud.
The speakers have customarily been distinguished former cricketers or cricketing personalities, other than when Desmond Tutu delivered the Lecture in 2008. Kumar Sangakkara, in 2011, is the only player who was still active in their playing career at the time of giving the Lecture.
The last lecture with delivered by current MCC President, Stephen Fry.
Previous Speakers
The full list of previous speakers are as follows:
| 2001 |
Richie Benaud |
Australia |
| 2002 |
Barry Richards |
South Africa |
| 2003 |
Sunil Gavaskar |
India |
| 2004 |
Clive Lloyd |
West Indies |
| 2005 |
Geoffrey Boycott |
England |
| 2006 |
Martin Crowe |
New Zealand |
| 2007 |
Christopher Martin-Jenkins |
England |
| 2008 |
Desmond Tutu |
South Africa |
| 2009 |
Adam Gilchrist |
Australia |
| 2010 |
Imran Khan |
Pakistan |
| 2011 |
Kumar Sangakkara |
Sri Lanka |
| 2012 |
Tony Greig |
England |
| 2013 |
Simon Taufel |
Australia |
| 2014 |
Sir Ian Botham |
England |
| 2015 |
Rod Marsh |
Australia |
| 2016 |
Brendon McCullum |
New Zealand |
| 2017 |
Brian Lara |
West Indies |
| 2018 |
Dave Richardson |
South Africa |
| 2019 |
Mike Brearley |
England |
| 2021 |
Stephen Fry |
England |
| 2022 |
Sir Andrew Strauss |
England |
Panel
The lecture has also typically been followed by a panel discussion, which has seen several other influential cricketing personalities discussing significant topics from the game. In recent years, the panel has included personalities such as Shane Warne, Michael Holding, Eoin Morgan, Anya Shrubsole, Sir Alastair Cook, Mahela Jayawardene and Jonny Bairstow.
