By Philip Barker at Lord's Cricket Ground in London
Record-breaking West Indian cricketer Brian Lara produced a magnificent display of clean hitting to ensure Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) celebrated the 200th anniversary of their Lord's Cricket Ground in style.
Record-breaking West Indian cricketer Brian Lara produced a magnificent display of clean hitting to ensure Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) celebrated the 200th anniversary of their Lord's Cricket Ground in style.Lara scored 56 as MCC beat Hertfordshire by seven wickets in a 40 overs a side one-day match.
It was 200 years to the day that Hertfordshire took on MCC in the first "Grand Match" played on the ground.
On that occasion, MCC had also beaten their opponents in convincing fashion.
MCC President and former England captain Mike Gatting presented specially minted commemorative medallions to the players of both sides.
Everyone who participates in a match on the ground during this bicentenary season will receive one.
MCC President Mike Gatting presented specially minted commemorative medallions to the players ©ITGThe host club had decided to make the occasion an "open day" and members of the public were allowed into the Pavilion, normally reserved for members of the club. Even they are normally required to wear a jacket and tie, but the strict dress codes were relaxed on this occasion.
The Hertfordshire players even wore a special sweater featuring the Lord's bicentenary crest, though there was little need for extra layers of clothing on a warm afternoon in central London.
Olympic archery was held at Lord's in 2012.
The ground thus became one of only three in international cricket to have staged test cricket and an event in the Olympic Games after Melbourne Cricket Ground (athletics 1956) and the "Gabba" in Brisbane (football 2000 ).
It is also probably the only sports ground in the world to have staged elite sport continuously for two centuries.
The MCC and Hertfordshire teams pose with MCC President Mike Gatting ahead of their anniversary match ©ITGThe MCC Hertfordshire match was one of three historic matches held at Lord's over the weekend.
These included the continuation of the longest running cricket rivalry in England.
The earliest recorded meeting of Harrow School and Eton College took place in 1805.
In the 2014 incarnation, there was an easy victory for Harrow.
The day before it was another historic occasion, Oxford and Cambridge universities - an encounter with a history which dates back to 1827.
This year Oxford won by one wicket.
The winning blow by Ross Haines went for six but also succeeded in breaking a window in the famous Tavern Stand.
There is one more match to mark the Bicentenary.
On July 5, Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar captains MCC against the Rest of the World, led by the legendary Australian spin bowler Shane Warne.
Not surprisingly, this match has been a sell out for months.
