[8][9] The new club might have continued except that White Conduit Fields was an open area allowing members of the public, including the rowdier elements, to watch the matches and to voice their opinions on the play and the players.

[9] Winchilsea and Lennox asked Lord to find a new ground and offered him a guarantee against any losses he may suffer in the venture.

[11] The agenda is unknown but, only three weeks later on Saturday, 19 May, the Morning Herald advertised: "A grand match will be played on Monday, 21 May in the New Cricket Ground, the New Road, Mary-le-bone, between eleven Noblemen of the White Conduit Club and eleven Gentlemen of the County of Middlesex with two men given, for 500 guineas a side.

The Old Ground was on the site now occupied by Dorset Square which is east of Marylebone Station and west of Baker Street.

Lord had been aware some years before 1810 that the Portman Estate intended to let the site on building leases which would command the much higher rent of over £600 per annum.

Rental on the Eyre site was only £54 per annum for a term of eighty years and free of both land tax and tithe.

The North Bank ground was sub-let to St John's Wood Cricket Club which eventually merged with MCC.

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (the ACS) holds that "(from) 1810 to 1814 the game was all but dead", largely because of the war and "the very real threat of civil unrest in England".

Members have voting rights and can use the Pavilion and other stands at Lord's Cricket Ground to attend all matches played there.

Until this time, The Queen, the club's patron, was the only woman (other than domestic staff) permitted to enter the Pavilion during play.

[21] In addition, membership rules allow a certain number of people each year to be elected ahead of their turn; beneficiaries have included Mick Jagger and in 2018 the Prime Minister, Theresa, now Lady May.

The then Secretary and Chief Executive of MCC, Roger Knight, represented the club on the board of the ECB and was party to this decision, prior to which Test cricket had been shown free to viewers on British television for more than half a century.

MCC decided to allow members and other spectators to continue to bring limited amounts of alcoholic drinks into the ground at all matches.

MCC opted to write to the ICC on an annual basis to seek permission for members and spectators to import alcohol into Lord's.

[citation needed] The Secretary & Chief Executive of the club has a place on the administrative board of the England and Wales Cricket Board and it is reported that Keith Bradshaw (Secretary & Chief Executive 2006–11) may have influenced the removal from office of England Coach Duncan Fletcher in April 2007.

Internal strife over the process of making a decision on the proposal led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Sir John Major from the Main Committee.

[28] In 2022, Guy Lavender, Secretary & Chief Executive of MCC, announced that the annual one-day Oxford v Cambridge and Eton v Harrow matches, both of which have been played at Lord's since the early 19th century, would no longer be held at the ground, so as to make room in the fixture list for the finals of competitions for all universities and schools in pursuit of greater diversity.

Following opposition from a majority of its membership, the club decided that the matches would continue to be held at Lord's until at least 2023 to allow time for further consultation.

[31] Video emerged of MCC members shouting abuse at Australian players after Jonny Bairstow was stumped under controversial circumstances, despite the dismissal being fair and legal.

The club has other sporting interests with both a real tennis and a squash court on site at Lord's, and golf, chess, bridge and backgammon societies.

The true provenance of MCC's colours is (and probably will remain) unsubstantiated, but its players often turned out sporting sky blue (qv.

[39] "It would be overstating things to claim that the MCC has come full circle," admitted Andrew Miller at the beginning of October 2008, "but at a time of massive upheaval in the world game, the... NW8's colours cease to represent everything that is wrong with cricket, and instead have become a touchstone for those whose greatest fear is the erosion of the game's traditional values.

[42] As a result, the club became an incorporated association and is now able to hold assets, including the Lord's Cricket Ground, in its own name instead of via a custodian trustee.

In 1914, Lord Hawke was appointed president and was asked to remain in the post till the end of the Great War.

Problems frequently arose but, in Wisden's view, Hawke was "the greatest help in giving wise counsel towards their solution".

[51] Hawke's tenure was exceeded by that of Stanley Christopherson who was appointed in 1939 and remained in situ for seven years until 1945 before being succeeded by General Sir Ronald Adam.

[53] This observation did indeed reflect societal change, although the Duke of Edinburgh, the Earl of Home, Lord Cowdrey and Sir Tim Rice all became President of MCC in the latter half of the 20th century.

In the 21st century there have been MCC Presidents who as players were wholly professional: Tom Graveney, Derek Underwood, Mike Gatting and Matthew Fleming.

[54][55][56] Each President is required to nominate their successor at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which takes place during his/her term of office.

The secretary and chief executive (a joint role) is the senior employee of the club and is appointed solely by the MCC committee.