Lord’s set to lose World Test final over state of pitch

The 2027 World Test Championship final could be played at the Oval amid concerns over the quality of the Lord’s pitch.

England will host the showpiece final for the fourth time next year. Lord’s hosted it in 2025, when South Africa beat Australia, and had been expected to become its regular venue. The home of cricket was slated to host the match in 2027.

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However, it now appears the most likely outcome is that the match will be moved across the Thames to the Oval, in part because of concerns over the Lord’s pitch. Sources insist no final decisions have been taken, but they will be during the next month, with next summer’s schedule to be announced soon.

The International Cricket Council has awarded England hosting rights for the next three finals until 2031, and has specified that it wants the match to be hosted in London. It is then in the England and Wales Cricket Board’s gift to decide, alongside the ICC, which ground hosts the match.

There have been three previous finals: at Southampton’s Utilita Bowl in 2021, when a biosecure bubble was still required; at the Oval in 2023, when commercial arrangements meant Lord’s could not host; and then at Lord’s in 2025.

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Earlier this month, Lord’s hosted the first Test between England and New Zealand. While the game reached day four because of rain, the Test lasted just 166 overs, which is less than two full days’ play. There was variable bounce and 24 of the 40 dismissals were bowled or lbw.

The match referee officially rated the pitch “unsatisfactory”, which meant Lord’s received its first demerit point under the ICC’s grading system. Ben Stokes, the England captain, was critical of the surface, saying “extreme conditions” were not good for the future of Test cricket.

Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s, has accepted the criticism. Writing in The Times, Mark Nicholas, the MCC chairman, described the pitch as “substandard”. It has worked hard to get more pace and bounce into sluggish pitches in recent years, and eight of the previous 10 international surfaces had been rated very good, with the other two satisfactory.

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Its Cricket Strategy, launched earlier this year, introduced a number of initiatives to alleviate the pressure on the square, including moving fixtures to Wormsley and developing drop-in pitches that could be used in international cricket by 2029. The status of Lord’s as the home of cricket brings unique pressure and Rob Lynch, MCC’s director of cricket and operations, has described the pitch as “the most scrutinised 22 yards of grass in world sport”.

If the WTC final was moved to the Oval, Lord’s would still host two Tests next summer, as per the staging agreement with the ECB. It has an Ashes Test but if it lost out on the WTC, it could take an early-summer one-off Test.

This match, possibly against Pakistan, had been slated for Old Trafford, which does not have an Ashes Test. However, ECB sources have indicated that Manchester is interested in taking a “fallow payment” from the governing body, rather than hosting the match. A fallow payment is a one-off fee paid to Test grounds which do not host a men’s Test in a certain season.

However, if Lord’s hosted the early summer Test and the Oval had the World Test final, it would create the curious situation of England hosting seven men’s Tests in 2027, four of which would be in London and none north of Nottingham. Southampton will make its Ashes debut next summer, with Headingley and Old Trafford missing. Headingley will host the Test in the Women’s Ashes.

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Lord’s is hosting three Tests this year (two men, and the inaugural women’s Test on the ground), as well as matches in the Women’s World Cup, including the final. The heavy schedule of major matches has made pitch preparation for groundsman Karl McDermott and his team a challenge. Next year, a Test in late May would allow ample time to prepare the pitch for the Ashes Test.

An MCC spokesman told Telegraph Sport: “We are working collaboratively with ECB and no decision on next year’s fixture list has yet been taken. Last year’s WTCF at Lord’s was a great success on many levels, not least the sell-out crowd and included a rating of ‘very good’ for the Lord’s pitch.”

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