The Cricket Statistician No 195

39 The Covers Are Off: Civil War at Lord’s By Charles Sale, Mensch Publishing, 352pp, paperback, £18.99, e-book £12.79 Riveting! How often does one say that of a cricket book? Yet now it is my verdict on a book that, I fear, all too few will choose to read. To members of MCC, of whom I admit to being one, it should be a ‘must read’, but to the rest of the cricket-loving world how interesting are the club’s internecine wars? The Lord’s shop ought to stock the book, but I guess it may be forbidden to do so! Charles Sale was for 40 years a sports journalist for the Daily Mail with a reputation for calling governing bodies to account. His chance to get his teeth into MCC may have begun in 1999, but the underlying story dates back to 1891 when a compulsory purchase order enabled tunnels to be built beneath the Nursery End at Lord’s to take trains into Marylebone Station. Successive railway companies had for years been enjoying a regular rent from MCC whose tenancy gives them rights over the top 18 inches of soil across a 124-foot-wide strip of land, thereby enabling cricket to be played on the Nursery ground with a pavilion and other related facilities in place. By 1999 only one of three tunnels was still in operation and it made sense to Railtrack to rid itself of the freehold – at a price that would satisfy shareholders. Naturally MCC was offered first option, but believing no-one else would be interested and strapped for cash after a heavy overspend on the Media Centre, the club was not prepared to pay the asking price, initially £1.75 million. An auction ensued at which MCC’s bidders were restricted by the committee to a maximum of £2.3 million. Though this was raised by £25,000 on the day, the freehold passed to a young property dealer Charles Rifkind, who had been alerted to the wider commercial opportunities offered by the site. His successful bid was just £2.35 million. The catastrophic loss was to cost MCC untold millions in the years ahead. The story that Sale tells exposes two opposing cultures and rather different priorities. MCC’s lease runs until 2135 so Rifkind has been in no position to do as he might wish with his investment. However, both MCC and their new landlord have had ambitions to make the most of the relevant strip of land within a wider development that would enhance the standing of Lord’s in world cricket. Their principal difference was that Rifkind looked for a fairly swift return on his investment and saw commercial development with blocks of prestige apartments as the source of revenue to finance other improvements, whereas within MCC the maintenance and improvement of the Nursery ground counted for more – and many abhorred the idea of any form of residential encroachment. Whereas Rifkind has only himself to consult, the committee structure alone ensures that nothing moves swiftly within MCC. With consultants freely called in, financiers urging caution and paid staff with their wings clipped, decisions are readily deferred – especially, as now, when the long game suits the club’s strategy. The need for members’ approval ensures further delays. Though most who bother to vote instinctively endorse their committee’s proposals, there is invariably a group of firebrand rebels to whom time must be devoted.