IPL finale may reach Lord's

Dubai: Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) chiefs are taking measures to ensure Lord's is able to meet growing international demand and are also in talks to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) grand finale at the home of cricket.

The IPL is keen for Lord's to host the Champions League finale of the cash-rich international tournament, which will feature the top two teams from the IPL and leading sides from England, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 competitions.

Although the two parties haven't yet come to an agreement, MCC officials were in the city to study the state-of-the-art cricket stadium at Dubai Sports City as they plan to ring in changes to cricket's traditional home in London.

Tony Lewis CBE, former president of the MCC, said: "The MCC wants to make sure it keeps everything in mind with enforcing the spirit of the game. We are the custodians of the game and Lord's will evolve and accept the spirit of the game.

"We travelled to Bangalore for the first match of the IPL and then to various other venues like Mohali, Mumbai and Delhi so we've seen quite a bit of it. The IPL is natural for India; it's Bollywood, it's big TV and has a big fan base. The IPL is just made for India, but we might host the world finals (Champions League) in a couple of years' time and the West Indian billionaire Allen Stanford too wants to use Lord's for the finals of his competition, so the interest is good."

Off the subject of renovating Lord's, he added: "We've come to see a stadium that has it all; that's the element that holds all the fascination for us. People can then come and look at what we've done at Lord's as well. We don't want to carry the baggage of history with us; we just want to carry the glory of history with us when we have a new look".