Outgoing MCC chief shares desire to make cricket "open to everyone"

Guy Lavender has spoken of the club's place in making the sport more inclusive and sustainable

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Outgoing MCC chief executive Guy Lavender has shared his desire for the club to make sure cricket is "open to everyone".

Lavender has shared his pride at the club's community work, which includes elderly people who attend dementia sessions or play walking cricket at Lord’s, and schoolchildren who benefit from our free cricket coaching programmes in our local schools.

Despite his forthcoming departure form the club, which he is leaving to become CEO of Cheltenham Racecourse, Lavender has shared his hope MCC will be at the forefront of making the game both accessible and sustainable in future.

"Ultimately, we want everything we do to be for the good of the game and to ensure cricket is a sport future generations will love as much as they do in the present and did in the past," he said.

"Making cricket more accessible to more people is something the game has to tackle as a whole but our specific focus is for Lord’s and MCC to be more open, inclusive and welcoming.

"I truly believe that sport is a vehicle for bringing people together and not dividing them. Cricket is a game that encourages friendship and teamwork and unifies a global fanbase of people from all walks of life.

"Our equality, diversity and inclusion work tackles the exclusions or barriers that exist through positive initiatives, applying forward thinking, and using new ideas that will deliver lasting change in this critical area."

Lavender's comments came after MCC partnered with Oris to make the Swiss watchmaker its first official timekeeper in the 236-year history of Lord's.

“One of the values of the club that I know we share with Oris is our commitment to sustainability, and, specifically to us, to protect the long-term future of Lord’s and the game," added Lavender. 

"Cricket is so exposed to the effects of climate change that we simply have to act now to protect it. We also have the responsibility to ensure that our home, Lord’s, is as environmentally friendly and sustainable as it possibly can be.

"We’ve been working on this for a number of years and were one of the first sporting clubs in the world to hire a full-time sustainability manager back in 2009.

"Since then, we’ve introduced a number of measures to reduce our carbon footprint including operating on 100 per cent renewable electricity since 2016, with all electricity sourced from wind power; reducing single-use plastics by 1.5 million pieces; and our recycling programmes have resulted in zero waste going to landfills since 2010.

"Most recently, we signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and published our strategy to become carbon neutral by 2030 and to have net zero emissions by 2040 by undertaking a significant programme of de-gasification at Lord’s, and switching the use of remaining natural gas in the operation of the venue to renewable energy sources."

As a proud partner of MCC and the first Official Timekeeper of Lord’s, Oris is delighted to have created the Father Time Limited Edition, a bronze watch that highlights Oris and MCC’s shared vision to bring Change for the Better. To view the watch and find out more, please click here.