Lord's Legends XI

SIR JACK HOBBS

Known as “The Master”, Jack Hobbs played in six Tests at Lord’s scoring 489 runs at an average of 61.12. His highest Test score at the Home of Cricket, indeed his highest Test score at any venue, came when he made 211 for England against South Africa in the summer of 1924.

His first wicket stand of 268 with Herbert Sutcliffe in that match remains a record in a Test at Lord’s. He made a further two Test centuries at Lord’s – against Australia in 1912 (107) and 1926 (119).

SIR LEONARD HUTTON

Len Hutton began his Test career with scores of 0 and 1 against New Zealand at Lord’s in 1937, but just over a year later he etched his name into cricket history with a record-breaking innings of 364 against Australia at the Oval.

He returned from the war with one arm shorter than the other following a training accident to become England’s first ever professional captain and lead England to their first Ashes series win in twenty years in 1953, retaining the Ashes in Australia in 1954-55. In 12 Tests at Lord’s he scored 812 runs at 42.73. His three hundreds came against West Indies in 1939 (196), India in 1952 (150) and Australia in 1953 (145).

GRAHAM GOOCH

Graham Gooch appeared in 21 Tests at Lord’s scoring 2,015 runs at an average of 53.02. His highest Test score at the Home of Cricket came when he made 333 for England against India in 1990 – still the highest Test score by any individual at Lord’s. He also scored 123 in the second innings, making a record aggregate score in Test Matches of 456. Gooch made a further four Test centuries at Lord’s for England  – against West Indies in 1980 (123), India in June 1986 (114), New Zealand in July 1986 (183) and Sri Lanka in 1991 (174).

He also played in the Bicentenary Match for MCC against Rest of the World in 1987, and scored 122 in MCC’s first innings, earning him an additional place on the Honours Boards.

Gooch also played in 11 One-Day Internationals at Lord’s, scoring 498 runs at an average of 49.80, and was part of the England team that faced West Indies in the 1979 World Cup Final on the Ground. He made two One-Day International hundreds at Lord’s, both against Australia, in 1985 (117*) and 1989 (136).

SIR GORDON GREENIDGE

Gordon Greenidge played in four Test Matches at the Home of Cricket, scoring 471 runs at an average of 78.50. He made two centuries at Lord’s for West Indies against England, in 1984 (214*) and 1988 (103).

Greenidge played in  eight One-Day Internationals at Lord’s, scoring 252 runs at an average of 31.50 – his highest score of 90 coming against Australia in the World Cup in 1983. A two-time World Cup winner, Greenidge played in all three of West Indies’ World Cup finals at Lord’s in 1975, 1979 and 1983.

He also played in the Bicentenary Test for MCC against Rest of the World in 1987, and scored 122 in MCC’s second innings, uniquely earning him a place on both the Home and Visitors’ Honours Boards for batting.

MARCUS TRESCOTHICK

Marcus Trescothick played 11 Test Matches at Lord’s scoring 762 runs at 42.33. His two centuries came against Bangladesh in 2005 (194) and Sri Lanka in 2006 (106).

Even more impressive was his record in One-Day Internationals at Lord’s: 13 matches bringing him 595 runs at 49.58 with three centuries and two fifties. No other batsman has scored more than two ODI hundreds at Lord’s. His highest ODI score of 137 from 142 balls came against Pakistan in 2001.

GRAEME SMITH

South Africa’s Graeme Smith arrived for his first Test at Lord’s only recently appointed Test captain at the age of 22. He could not have got off to a better start at the Home of Cricket, his innings of 259 surpassing Don Bradman’s record score by a visiting Test batsman and setting up an innings victory for his team.

Another century (107) followed on his next Test appearance at Lord’s in 2008 and while his final visit in 2012 brought modest returns with the bat, he led his team to a 51-run victory which took them to no.1 in the Test rankings, replacing England. In all Smith scored 411 runs at 82.20 in three Tests at Lord’s.

SIR ALASTAIR COOK

Alastair Cook played no fewer than 26 Test Matches at the Home of Cricket, in which he scored 1,937 runs at 43.04 with four hundreds and 12 fifties. In 2011 he came close to recording a hundred in each innings, scoring 96 and 106 against Sri Lanka.

His highest innings of 162 came against New Zealand in 2015, a match England won by 124 runs. Cook’s other Test century at Lord’s came in his second Test on the ground against Pakistan in 2006; he scored 105 and shared in a fourth wicket partnership of 233 with Paul Collingwood.

Results

SIR Donald Bradman

When Don Bradman arrived on English shores for the first time in 1930 many pundits thought his technique would not cope with English wickets. By the end of that summer how to get Bradman out was the most pressing problem in English cricket. 

The 254 he made on his first Test appearance at Lord’s was rated by him the finest innings of his entire career. It was one of two Test hundreds he made at Lord’s, along with an innings of 102 not out in 1938. His four Test Matches at the Home of Cricket brought him 551 runs at 78.71 which, let’s face it, is pretty mediocre compared to the 192.60 he averaged at Headingley.

Denis Compton

Denis Compton joined the Ground Staff at Lord’s as a 15 year old in 1933 and made his Middlesex debut three years later. The first of 11 Test appearances at Lord’s came against Australia in 1938 when a sprightly 76 not out helped arrest a second innings collapse and save the match for England. In all he scored 882 Test runs averaging 58.80 at the Home of Cricket; most of the runs scored in characteristically flamboyant style.

Three hundreds came against West Indies in 1939 (120 in just over two hours), South Africa in 1947 (208) and New Zealand in 1949 (116). The glorious summer of 1947 was the highlight of his career, bringing him 3,816 runs in first-class cricket, often in partnership with his great friend Bill Edrich. Their third wicket partnership of 370 against South Africa that year remains a record for any wicket in a Test Match at Lord’s.

Little wonder, then, that MCC chose to name the two stands at the Nursery End of the Ground, currently under reconstruction, after Compton and Edrich.

Sir Vivian Richards

Illness deprived Vivian Richards of a first Test appearance at Lord’s during West Indies’ tour of England in 1976. Lucky for England’s bowlers, perhaps, as the other four Tests in the series brought Richards three hundreds, two of them doubles including a monumental 291 at the Oval. The “master blaster” made up for it on his return in 1980, striking 145 in his first Test knock at Lord’s.

Although this would be his only Test century at the Home of Cricket, he never completed a Test here without at least a fifty under his belt and his four Tests brought him 358 runs at 71.60. In nine

One Day Internationals at Lord’s he scored 524 runs at 87.33 including a match-winning 138 not out against England in the 1979 World Cup Final.  

Dilip Vengsarkar

Tall, elegant right-hander Vengsarkar marked his first Test appearance at Lord’s with a match-saving second innings 103. He returned in 1982 to make 157 and then in 1986 an innings of 126 not out helped India to set up a 5-wicket victory.

No other batsman has made hundreds in three consecutive Test appearances at Lord’s. Even his fourth and final Test, in 1990, brought respectable returns of 52 and 35, leaving him with a total of 508 runs at 72.57 in Tests at Lord’s. Strange, then, that his 129-match ODI career did not include a single game at Lord’s.

Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh’s 231 runs in four Tests at Lord’s were dominated by an innings of 152 not out on his first appearance in 1989. This, in the second Test of the series, followed his 177 not out at Trent Bridge; for a while it looked as though England could have bowled at him until October without getting through his defence.

Often, batting at five or six in the order during an era of great Australian dominance, he found those above him had already done the work before he came in to bat. His leadership was frequently as important as his batting. The highlight of his six ODI appearances at Lord’s was undoubtedly the 1999 ICC World Cup Final when he lifted the trophy after leading his team to a convincing eight-wicket win over Pakistan.

Kevin Pietersen

Would it be fair to say that Kevin Pietersen’s England career had its share of ups and downs? Well, there were plenty of ups at Lord’s. Fifteen Tests brought him 1,235 runs at 56.13 and no fewer than five hundreds. His Test debut came at the Lord’s in 2005 when his innings of 57 and 64 not out against Australia were a rare bright spot in a dismal England performance.

He earned his first entry on the Honours Boards the following year with 158 against Sri Lanka. 109 against West Indies and 134 against India (both in 2007), 152 against South Africa in 2008 and 202 not out against India in 2011 were his other Test hundreds at the Home of Cricket. 10 ODI appearances at Lord’s only brought one fifty, but nevertheless Lord’s was a ground that brought the best out of “KP”.

Claire Taylor

Claire Taylor’s first ODI appearance at Lord’s saw her top score with 50 not out against Australia in 2001. The 156 not out she made against India in her next innings at Lord’s remains the highest ODI score ever made at the Home of Cricket by a batsman of either sex. Those two “red inkers” meant that when she was dismissed for 17 against South Africa in 2008 (having come to the crease for a late thrash after England’s openers put on 268 for the first wicket), her ODI average at Lord’s was a remarkable 223.00.

By the time her 13-year international career came to an end in 2011 that average still stood at a healthy 79.00. In all she scored 8 ODI and 4 Test hundreds in a stellar career that brought World Cup and World Twenty20 wins, both in 2009, together with the honour of being the first woman chosen as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year.

She currently Chairs MCC’s Cricket committee, not that we are in any way biased.

Michael Vaughan

Best remembered as the captain who led England to their first Ashes series win in 18 years during the unforgettable 2005 series, Michael Vaughan was also a world-class batsman. When he struck three glorious Test hundreds on England’s 2002-03 tour of Australia some local judges rated him the best England batsman they had seen since Peter May.

His record at Lord’s bears that out. Six hundreds and two fifties from 12 Tests, a total of 974 runs at 54.11. He showed great pluck in his first Test at Lord’s against West Indies in 2000, an innings of 41 and partnership of 92 with Michael Atherton helping England to a 2-wicket win in a tight, low-scoring game. The runs flowed even more against Sri Lanka in 2002 (115), India also in 2002 (100), West Indies in 2004 (103 and 101 not out), Bangladesh in 2005 (120) and New Zealand in 2008 (106).

Joe Root

England’s current Test captain has played 14 Test Matches at Lord’s so far, scoring 1,189 runs at 47.56. His three hundreds have all been big ones: 180 against Australia in 2013, 200 not out against Sri Lanka in 2014 and 190 against South Africa in 2017, the last of these coming in his first Test as captain.

His ODI record at the Home of Cricket is also formidable: 365 runs at 52.14 from eight matches including a magnificent 113 not out from 116 balls against India in 2018. One of the best of his generation, Joe Root’s story is not yet complete.

Results

SIR Gubby Allen

Few cricketers have been more closely associated with Lord’s than “Gubby” Allen. From schoolboy cricket with Eton through a county career for Middlesex to being Chairman of Test selectors and President and Treasurer of MCC, it was a lifelong association acknowledged by the renaming of “Q” Stand as the Allen Stand shortly before his death. But the first of his four Tests at Lord’s was a torrid experience. On his Test debut against an Australia inspired by Bradman in 1930 he failed to take a wicket as Australia ran up 729-6 declared. 57 with the bat did indicate his all-round promise, however.

His other three Tests at Lord’s were considerably more successful:122 (batting at nine) against New Zealand in 1931 and match figures of 10-78 against India in 1936 being the highlights. Overall his rhythmical fast-medium claimed 16 wickets at 20.68 in Tests at Lord’s while 211 runs came at 42.20. Allen also boasts a 100% record as captain in Lord’s Tests, albeit from only one match.

Sir Garry Sobers

Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, the young Barbadian who broke Len Hutton’s Test record by scoring 365 not out against Pakistan in 1957-58, was not just a batsman, but an all-rounder who could bowl left-arm fast-medium, orthodox slow left arm or chinamen as the situation demanded.

Still considered a youngster of promise on his first Test outing at Lord’s in 1957, he made a defiant 66 in the second innings and took the vital wickets of Colin Cowdrey and Godfrey Evans with the ball. An undefeated innings of 163 saved the match for West Indies in 1966 and another huge innings of 150 not out helped West Indies to an innings victory on his final visit to the Home of Cricket in 1973. In all he made 571 Test runs at 95.15 at Lord’s.

Lord’s rarely saw the best of Sobers as a bowler in official Tests, but in the 1970 England v Rest of the World “Test” (part of a series of unofficial Tests set up to replace that year’s cancelled South Africa tour) he claimed 6-21 in England’s first innings before blasting 183 with the bat in one of the finest individual performances ever seen on the Ground. His work in the field often lit up Lord’s as well: six catches in the 1973 Test also being a major contribution to his team’s convincing win.

Sir Ian Botham

Most cricketers would consider it a great achievement to get their name on the Lord’s Honours Boards but few have managed it on their first appearance. To do so twice on your first appearance at Lord’s*, for both batting and bowling, seems like showing off, but much of Ian Botham’s career was like that. Less than a year into his Test career, the 22 year-old Botham already had two Test hundreds and two five-fors under his belt when he pitched up at the Home of Cricket for the Second Test against Pakistan in 1978. He pummelled the Pakistan bowling for 108 off 110 balls in England’s only innings before ripping through their batting to claim 8-34 as they followed on.

Botham always loved bowling at Lord’s, fifteen Tests here brought him 69 wickets at 24.53 including eight 5-wicket innings and one 10-wicket match haul: 11-140 against New Zealand later that same summer. A total of 652 runs at 31.04 and nine catches complete an impressive return in Lord’s Tests, complemented by a batting average of 58.00 from 10 ODIs.

*Technically Botham’s feat did not earn him a place on the Honours Boards at the time. They were only installed in 1992.

Kapil Dev

Taken at face value, Kapil Dev’s statistics at Lord’s may not appear outstanding: four Tests in which he scored 242 runs at 48.40 with two fifties; 17 wickets at 32.52 with only one 5-wicket haul. But his 5-125 in 1982 was followed by a thrilling innings of 89 from 55 balls as India followed on. He then nabbed three quick wickets to make England wobble on their way to a target of only 65.

Another highlight came in 1990, with India again looking to save the follow-on after Graham Gooch’s huge innings of 333. Left batting with last man Narendra Hirwani (more or less a walking wicket), Kapil had four balls to face from Eddie Hemmings before Hirwani would be confronted by Angus Fraser. The field was set to prevent the single; Kapil went over the top, striking four consecutive sixes over the Nursery End sightscreen to pass the follow-on target.

In ODI cricket Kapil Dev only played one match at Lord’s and only recorded 15 with the bat and 1-21 with the ball, but the match did happen to be the 1983 World Cup Final in which he took a splendid running catch to dismiss Vivian Richards, who was on the verge of cutting loose, and ended up lifting the Prudential Trophy for his country. Cometh the hour…cometh Kapil Dev.

Andrew Flintoff

The biggest personality to grace English cricket since Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff’s emergence as a genuine Test-class all-rounder had much to do with England’s improved stature in the game in the early 2000s.

His first Test century on home soil came with a brutal assault on South Africa’s bowlers at Lord’s in 2003: 142 from 146 balls with 18 fours and five sixes. It couldn’t prevent a South African victory, but England fans hadn’t seen an innings like it in a long time. For the rest of the decade he was the linchpin of an increasingly successful England side, his other standout performance at Lord’s coming in the final summer of his Test career when he took 5-92 to bowl England to their first Test victory over Australia at Lord’s since 1934. 10 Tests at Lord’s brought him 429 runs at 35.75 and 31 wickets at 32.80.

11 ODIs at Lord’s produced 321 runs at 45.85 and 18 wickets at just 17.00 each. His best performance in ODIs came against West Indies in 2004 when he blasted eight fours and seven sixes on his way to 123 from 104 balls.

Ben Stokes

Wisden’s Leading Cricketer in the World in 2019, Ben Stokes’ efforts in the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the Ashes series which followed it reinforced his reputation as a cricketer with genuine box-office appeal. Like Graham Gooch before him his Test match record at Lord’s began with a pair, but he more than made up for it in his second Test outing at the Home of Cricket, hitting 92 and 101 against New Zealand in 2015. After smashing the 92 off 94 balls he reached his second innings hundred from just 85; it remains the fastest Test hundred at Lord’s.

Each successive Test at Lord’s brought achievement with either bat or ball: 87 against Australia the same year, 56 against South Africa then 6-22 and 60 against West Indies in 2017. A moderate game against Pakistan in 2018 preluded his annus mirabilis, 2019 seeing him score 115 not out against Australia after his World Cup Final heroics.

And what about that final? 84 not out to guide England to a tie and then came the Super Over. Battling pressure and exhaustion, Stokes struck 8 runs from 3 balls to put the Final beyond, but only just beyond, New Zealand. The rest is history. We can hope that plenty of Ben Stokes’ career still isn’t. 

Results

Les Ames

A bulwark of the England team in the 1930s, Les Ames was probably the first of the true wicket-keeper batsmen. His contemporary George Duckworth may have been marginally more skilful with the gauntlets, but with bat in hand he was nowhere near Ames’ level of achievement.

The scorer of eight centuries in a 47 Test career, Ames went on to make a hundred on each of the first three times he passed 50 in a Test. The third of these came on his first Test appearance at Lord’s, an innings of 137 against New Zealand in 1931. His other Test hundred at the Home of Cricket came against Australia in 1934, his 120 helping England to an innings victory.

A quick-scoring batsman, he twice won the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest first-class hundred of the season. His seven Tests at Lord’s brought 555 runs at 55.50 with six catches and one stumping.

Alan Knott

In a Test Match career that lasted from 1967 to 1981 Alan Knott played 95 Tests, 14 of which were at Lord’s. A good enough batsman to make five Test centuries in all, his highest score at Lord’s was 83 against Pakistan in 1974. With the bat he was innovative and often unorthodox, once sweeping 15 consecutive balls and middling every one. He was at times a frustrating man to bowl at and could be a fast scorer, winning the Walter Lawrence Trophy in 1976.

As a wicket-keeper he was superb; quick and agile, with wonderful hands. His 269 Test dismissals put him eighth on the all-time list, the highest Englishman. In all his 14 Tests at Lord’s produced 32 catches and one stumping as well as 533 runs at 25.38. He also played in the first ever One-Day International at Lord’s, against Australia in 1972, scoring 50 and taking three catches.

AleC Stewart

Anyone who watched English cricket in the 1990s would be familiar with the debate: should Alec Stewart keep wicket for England or open the batting?

As his career progressed he did more of the former, taking over the gloves from Jack Russell. His Test record with the bat does much to explain why (15 hundreds from 133 Tests), but Stewart was also a world-class wicket-keeper who never let England down, whatever role he was called upon to play. 12 of his 20 Tests at Lord’s were as wicket-keeper and twice (against South Africa in 1998 and West Indies in 2000) he captained the side and batted in the top-order as well as keeping wicket.

The first of three Test hundreds at the Home of Cricket was an innings of 113 not out against Sri Lanka in 1991, the others being 119 against New Zealand in 1994 and 124 not out against Zimbabwe in 2000. In total he scored 1,476 Test runs at Lord’s at an average of 44.72, taking 40 catches and one stumping. He also played 13 ODI matches at Lord’s, scoring six fifties; 19 catches and two stumpings supplemented a batting average of 46.27 in ODIs at Lord’s.

Matt Prior

One place behind Alan Knott on the list of career Test dismissals with 256, Matt Prior managed to cram a lot of achievement into his seven-year international career.

In 14 Tests at Lord’s he took 50 catches and made three stumpings, which is the most by a keeper at the Home of Cricket, but he also scored three hundreds and four fifties from a total of 906 runs at 43.14. He got off to a great start, making 126 not out on Test debut at Lord’s against West Indies in 2007. Another 126 followed against Sri Lanka in 2011; 103 not out against India the same year was his third hundred at the Home of Cricket. Perhaps his most significant contribution with the bat, however, was the 61 he made from 42 balls against Australia in 2009, which helped to set up England’s first win against the old enemy at Lord’s in 75 years. His final Test appearance on the ground was also a significant one, 6 catches in the match adding to a first-innings score of 86 against Sri Lanka in 2014.

Kumar Sangakkara

MCC’s current President and the subject of a fine portrait by Antony Williams which adorns the staircase below the visitors dressing room in the Pavilion at Lord’s, Kumar Sangakkara looked like becoming one of those great players who never made it onto the Test Honours Boards at Lord’s before striking 147 on his final Test appearance at the Ground in 2014.

His last two Test Matches at Lord’s saw him play as a batsman only, but on his first appearance in 2002 he took five catches in England’s first innings before adding one more and effecting a run-out in their second. He only conceded a single bye in that innings as England ran up a total of 529-5 declared over 191 overs.

Although only one of his 38 Test centuries came at Lord’s, he still boasts a batting average of 49.71 in Tests at the Ground alongside an ODI average of 50.66. He scored 112 from 104 balls on the last of his three ODI outings in 2014 to become the only wicket-keeper with centuries in two formats at Lord’s 

Sarah Taylor

Widely thought to be one of the finest wicket-keepers (male or female) of her generation, Sarah Taylor was a key member of the England team which triumphed in the ICC Women’s World Cup Final at Lord’s in 2017. That match was one of eight ODI appearances Taylor made at the Home of Cricket, her debut coming in the match in which her namesake Claire Taylor made a Ground record 156 not out against India.

Sarah Taylor’s most significant individual contribution at Lord’s came in her second ODI on the Ground, an innings of 129 against South Africa in 2008. Opening the batting with Caroline Atkins, the pair put on a mammoth 268 for the first wicket, a record for any wicket in a ODI at Lord’s.

The 2017 Final was not Taylor’s only taste of World Cup glory; in 2009 she took four catches and a stumping and scored 39 as England defeated hosts New Zealand to claim the title. Eight years later, a vital innings of 45 and a hand in two run-outs as England were crowned World Champions again showed Sarah Taylor to be a cricketer made for the big occasion.

Results

Hedley Verity

A Yorkshire and England slow left-arm bowler who lost his life tragically during the Second World War, Hedley Verity played seven Tests at Lord’s between 1933 and 1939, taking 42 wickets at an average of 14.59.

By far his outstanding performance came against Australia in 1934 when he took advantage of favourable conditions to claim what was then a Lord’s record of 15 wickets for 104 in the match. Remarkably, 14 of those wickets came in a single day. Verity had already claimed the wicket of Don Bradman on the Saturday evening, but rain on the rest day offered him ideal conditions on day three as Australia stumbled from 202-3 to 284 all out. Following on, Australia were bowled out for just 118, Verity claiming 8-43. Not even the great Bradman could resist his wiles, losing his wicket cheaply to Verity twice in that match then again in the first innings of the rematch at Lord’s in 1938.

Vinoo Mankad

India’s Vinoo Mankad only played two Test Matches at Lord’s, but both were significant. The first, in 1946, was the first to take place in England since the Second World War and happened to be Mankad’s Test debut. The second, in 1952, saw the slow left-arm bowler become the only visiting Test player to produce Honours Board performances with bat and ball in the same Test Match.

In his debut game, Mankad had top scored for India making 63 and hitting the only six of the game. He followed up six years later by making 72 and 184 as well as claiming the wickets of Reg Simpson and Peter May on his way to astonishing figures of 73-24-196-5. His achievement has only been matched by Garry Sobers for Rest of the World in the unofficial 1970 “Test” at Lord’s.

Derek Underwood

A “slow” left-arm spinner of more like medium pace, Derek Underwood’s international career lasted from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. He formed a deadly combination with wicket-keeper Alan Knott both at Test and county level for Kent.

In nine Test Matches at Lord’s he took 38 wickets at 16.92, claiming four five-wicket hauls and becoming the only bowler in history to take 10 wickets in a Test Match at Lord’s twice. His first Test at the Home of Cricket was against Australia in 1968, when he bowled a wonderful spell of 18-15-8-2 as England pressed for an unlikely victory.

The following year he succeeded in bowling England to victory against New Zealand with figures of 31-18-32-7, part of an 11-wicket match haul. He did better still against Pakistan in 1974; hauls of 5-20 and 8-51 bringing him match figures of 13-71, the third best in Lord’s history.
 

Bishan Bedi

A fourth left-armer on the list, Bishan Bedi was part of a quartet of world-class spinners who put India on the cricketing map in the 1970s. Four Tests at Lord’s between 1967 and 1979 produced 17 wickets at 28.94.

His greatest triumph at the Home of Cricket came in 1974 when he toiled for 64.2 overs, claiming 6-226 as England ran up a total of 629. It was his only five-wicket haul at Lord’s but he always bowled well in NW8, taking 3-68 on his first appearance in 1967, 4-70 in 1971 and 2-87 from 38.5 overs in 1979, on his final Test tour. Such figures were invariably a reward for long, probing spells filled with guile and control and maiden after maiden..

Shane Warne

Shane Warne never made it on to the Test Honours Boards at Lord’s – his best bowling figures were 4-57 in 1993. But he still took 19 wickets at 19.57 in four Tests at the Home of Cricket (the most by a visiting spinner) and won the Man of the Match award for his 4-33 in Australia’s ICC Cricket World Cup Final win over Pakistan in 1999.

His first Test outing at Lord’s (just a couple of weeks after he bowled *that* ball to Mike Gatting at Old Trafford) resulted in match figures of 8-159. Then in 1997 and 2005 he had to play second fiddle to a rampant Glenn McGrath, but still produced match figures of 6-83 on his final Test appearance at Lord’s.

Warne made the 1999 World Cup Final a one-sided affair: two quick wickets left Pakistan reeling on 91-5, then the crucial scalps of Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram finished them off.

Graeme Swann

The only off-spin bowler on this list, Graeme Swann played 10 Test Matches at Lord’s, taking 40 wickets at 24.07. Among these wickets were two five-wicket hauls, against Pakistan in 2010 (5-62) and Australia in 2013 (5-44).

His first Test at Lord’s against West Indies in 2009 was a sterling performance with bat and ball; an aggressive innings of 63 not out followed up by bowling figures of 3-16 and 3-39. Later that year he played an important role in England’s first victory over Australia at Lord’s in 75 years, bowling a long spell in Australia’s second innings to claim 4-87.

Each of his five-wicket hauls at Lord’s very nearly became 10 wickets in the match; figures of 4-12 in the first innings against Pakistan in 2010 and 4-78 in the second against Australia in 2013 leaving him just one short on each occasion. Lord’s also brought him success in One-Day Internationals: 16 wickets at 18.37 from eight appearances show Swann was a spinner comfortable with both red and white ball, and with the bat in his hand as well.

Results

Keith Miller

The “Golden Nugget” as he was known could easily claim a place in the all-rounder bracket; 170 wickets at 22.97 in 55 Tests for Australia combined with 2,958 runs at 36.97 give a clear indication of Miller’s capacity with bat and ball.

He formed a lethal new-ball combination with Ray Lindwall which terrorized England’s batsmen in the years following the Second World War, a war in which he had served courageously as a Mosquito pilot. He brought a slice of RAF verve and glamour into the dreary post-war years and played cricket as he lived, with flair, athleticism and elegance. He had played a little Sheffield Shield cricket before the war, but really arrived on the world stage during the Victory “Tests” between England and Australian Services teams in the summer of 1945. Three of the five matches took place at Lord’s: he scored a century in the opening game, took six wickets in the second and scored another century in the third. He ended the summer by smashing 185 in under three hours for the Dominions against England, also at the Home of Cricket.

The post-war years brought him three Tests at Lord’s: in 1948 he scored 74 in a comfortable Australian victory, in 1953 he scored 109 then in 1956 his bowling came to the fore and he took 5-72 and 5-80 in true fast bowler style – nine of his wickets either clean bowled or caught behind. 11 wickets and 20.94 and 270 runs at 45.00; few visiting cricketers have been as quite so at home at the Home of Cricket as Keith Miller.

Fred Trueman

The perfect fast-bowler’s combination of aggression and skill characterised Fred Trueman. Genuinely fast in his youth, as his career progressed he learned to rely on movement off the pitch and in the air, becoming the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets in 1964.

“Fiery Fred” played 12 of his 67 Test Matches at Lord’s taking 63 wickets at 22.12. He claimed five wickets in an innings five times, including one 10-wicket match haul. That performance came in 1963 during a thrilling drawn game against West Indies: Trueman took 6-100 and 5-52 as the game ended with England just six runs short of victory with the last pair at the crease. His other outstanding performances came against Australia in 1956 (5-90) and 1964 (5-48) and against Pakistan in 1962 (6-31). His five wickets against Australia in 1964 made him the first bowler to claim a “five-for” on three consecutive Test appearances at Lord’s.

Bob Massie

Perhaps cricket’s greatest “one-hit wonder”, Perth-born Bob Massie hadn’t yet played a Test Match for Australia when he was picked for the 1972 tour of England. He made his Test debut at Lord’s on what Richie Benaud described as “a beautiful batting track”, but Massie took advantage of cloudy conditions to swing and seam the ball both ways at a little above medium pace and take 8-84 in the first innings and 8-53 in the second. He became the first – and so far only - Australian to take 15 wickets in a Test Match and his match figures of 16-137 were a record for a Test debutant until India’s Narendra Hirwani bettered them by one run in 1988. They remain a record for a Test at Lord’s.

Massie played only five more Tests and never took another five-wicket haul. On tour in the West Indies the following spring he struggled with illness and tried to modify his action. His career fell away completely and by 1974 he had lost his place in the Western Australia side. Nevertheless, for “Massie’s Match” he will always be a legend at Lord’s.

Sir Richard Hadlee

Perhaps New Zealand’s greatest ever cricketer, Sir Richard Hadlee was one of the great all-rounders in an age of great all-rounders and arguably the greatest bowler of them all, renowned for nagging accuracy on the off-stump at a sometimes genuinely fast pace. No-one who saw it could forget his smooth, rhythmical approach to the wicket or his classically side-on action.

He never failed to produce something in a Test Match at Lord’s: in 1978 he took 5-84, in 1983 5-93, in 1986 he produced his Lord’s best of 6-80, becoming the first overseas bowler to claim a “five-for” on three consecutive Test appearances at Lord’s and then in 1990, in his penultimate Test appearance, he took four wickets in the match and hit 86 from 84 balls.

Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath followed Sir Richard Hadlee in becoming the second visiting bowler to take a “five-for” on three consecutive Test appearances at Lord’s. When you consider that he only played three Test Matches at the Home of Cricket, the achievement becomes even more impressive.

He got off to a flyer in 1997, ripping out England’s first three batsmen to leave them tottering at 13-3 and destroying the momentum the hosts had built up with a shock victory at Edgbaston. England were bowled out for just 77, McGrath claiming 8-38. In 2001 he claimed 5-54 in the first innings and 3-60 in the second and then in 2005 it was 1997 all over again only this time it was the top four he tore through as England struggled to 19-4. They recovered to make 155 with McGrath taking 5-53. 4-29 followed in the second innings to seal England’s fate.

26 Test wickets at Lord’s (more than any other visiting bowler) at an average of 11.50, 8 ODI wickets at 22.62, World Cup triumph in 1999, McGrath destroyed English hopes every time he played at Lord’s. It would be nice to have him in the home dressing room for a change.

James Anderson

In 23 Test Matches at Lord’s James Anderson has bowled 5,439 balls and taken 103 wickets at 23.89, making him the leading Test wicket-taker at the Home of Cricket. He is only the second bowler in history, after Muttiah Muralitharan, to take a hundred wickets at a single venue.

One of those cricketers who just seems to get better and better, some of his most recent Tests at Lord’s have brought his finest performances at the Ground: bags of 5-20 and 4-23 against India in 2018 and a match-winning spell of 7-42 (four clean-bowled, three caught behind) against West Indies in 2017. He made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003 and took 5-73. More five-wicket hauls followed: two against India 5-42 in 2007 and 5-65 in 2011, and 5-47 against New Zealand (2013). Few fast bowlers in recent years have shown Anderson’s level of skill with the moving ball.

Brett Lee

A genuinely hostile fast bowler guaranteed to be running in as hard for the last over of the day as the first, Brett Lee may only have played two Tests at the Home of Cricket, taking seven wickets at 27.42, but his ODI record on the ground is especially impressive.

In seven outings in the shorter format the Australian speedster racked up 18 wickets at 16.22. He took two five-wicket hauls: 5-41 in 2005 and 5-49 in 2009, four of the latter wickets clean bowled. No other bowler has claimed more than one ”five-for” in ODIs at Lord’s. He played a key role in Australia’s 2005 Test win, catching Andrew Strauss off his own bowling to break England’s second innings opening stand of 80, then 10 overs later removing skipper Michael Vaughan to reduce the hosts to 112-4.

Stuart Broad

Second only to Anderson in the list of Test wicket-takers at Lord’s, Stuart Broad’s 23 Test Matches at the Home of Cricket have brought him 94 wickets at 27.06. His first appearance on the Honours Boards came after his fifth Test on the Ground and unexpectedly resulted from his performance with the bat: an innings of 169 and an eighth wicket partnership of 322 with Jonathan Trott the backbone of a convincing England victory over Pakistan in 2010.

His best performances with the ball came against West Indies in 2012, when he twice ran through the visitors’ middle and lower order to record match figures of 11-165, and against New Zealand in 2013 when in one of his periodic spells of irresistible bowling he demolished the Kiwi top-order before finishing their innings off for just 68. His figures of 7-44 were almost as good as the 7-43 he had claimed in the first innings against West Indies the year before.

Chris Woakes

No one-Test wonder, but Chris Woakes seems to raise his game at Lord’s in an almost Bob Massie-like way.

His overall Test bowling average is 30.88; at Lord’s it’s 11.33. His Test batting average at Lord’s is 61.20 compared to an overall 26.75. He has taken three five-wicket hauls (including one 10-wicket match haul) at Lord’s but has never managed this on any other Test ground. With the bat, his only Test century has come at Lord’s, 137 not out against India in 2018, together with one of his three fifties. Pakistan were on the wrong end of his bowling expertise in 2016; Woakes claiming match figures of 11-102. Then in 2019 he produced a remarkable return of 6-17 as Ireland were dismissed for just 38 on their first Test appearance at Lord’s.

Already Woakes has bagged 27 wickets in just five Tests at Lord’s and his 3-37 in the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Final has earned him a place in history.

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