End of Nursery Ground?

MCC say cricket will resume on the Nursery Ground after the six-year break needed to build the new £50m Compton and Edrich stands at Lord’s, with construction beginning next year.

But once MCC start increasing their lucrative big- match activities on the Nursery site, what chance is there of club standard cricket returning? Especially if it means paying property developer Charles rifkind, who owns the Nursery End tunnels, increased rent estimated at £500,000 a year for just a boundary rope over his strip of land.

ENGLAND team sponsors Vauxhall are virtually giving up their FA sponsorship despite it not expiring until after the World Cup. There will be no sponsorship activity from Vauxhall in Russia nor are they sending any personnel to the tournament. This compares to the £250,000-plus they spent in Brazil in 2014 that included naming rights to the England media centre in Rio, which was barely used due to the group-stage exit.

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