MCC say Lord's T20 franchise will be a community "game-changer"

The club’s successful presentation to the ECB for hosting the team from 2020–24 was made by MCC chairman Gerald Corbett, chief executive Guy Lavender, Nickie Aiken of Westminster City Council, and the deputy head of a local school

^{Lord's will host a T20 franchise}

MCC hope the new city T20 team based at Lord’s will be a “game-changer for the community”.

The club’s successful presentation to the ECB for hosting the team from 2020–24 – plus continuing to stage two Tests and a one-day international a summer – was made by MCC chairman Gerald Corbett, chief executive Guy Lavender, Nickie Aiken of Westminster City Council, and the deputy head of a local school. The club have elaborated on their plans for this in their recently published paper, Focused on the Future.

There is also considerable debate about next summer’s World Cup games at the venue. London-based members paid £524 for the 2018 season. When one considers that allows members entry to 10 days of Test cricket, Middlesex’s home games there and all other matches at the ground – pus other membership benefits – that seems like a very good deal.

MCC are concerned that seats will be allocated for members for World Cup games, however, only for them to remain empty if they do not turn up. There is the other nightmare scenario – that too many of the 18,000 members turn up.

With some seats expected to fetch up to £350, the club are exploring their options ahead of their annual meeting in May; those include asking members to pay some or all of the cost of tickets. Lord’s is set to stage four group games, plus the final.

Meanwhile Middlesex will also play T20 at Lord’s, and supporters of the Blast are celebrating the new sponsorship deal with Vitality.

^{Members of the MCC may be asked to pay for their Test tickets}

It is for four years – so two beyond the start of the new city T20. County cricket aficionados fear that the new competition will eclipse and ultimately kill the Blast, and even the County Championship and 50-over tournament.

It is the counties’ intentions to continue with once-a-week T20 games when the new tournament is not being played, as they are big money-spinners.

County members are sure to keep attending games at popular venues like Hove and Taunton, but what effect the relative lack of coverage on some channels has remains to be seen.

Papers like The Sun and Daily Mirror would probably concentrate on the new tournament, with some games also being shown live on BBC Television.

With all eyes on the 2020 reboot of the game in this country, the ECB are still seeking a Test sponsor, and had been lacking a T20 backer after NatWest’s deal expired last year (they now sponsor England shirts).

Health and life insurance company Vitality’s four-year T20 deal also covers grassroots T20 – plus a two-year agreement to be title sponsor of home T20Is, women’s and men’s.

Investec withdrew from English Test cricket, using a break clause with four years to go on a 10-year £40m deal, while 2017 was the final year of NatWest’s sponsorship of the Blast. The ECB are in “active discussions” about the Test deal.