Baseball: Home runs for Lord's

LORD'S is set to agree this week to stage a baseball exhibition game between two major league teams at cricket's HQ in October next year.

Plans to stage such a game this year fell through over the lack of television support and the demands of the players' union, but MCC has been swayed by the promise of a guaranteed pounds 100,000 plus a cut from the gate and the sale of souvenirs.

Lt Col John Stephenson, MCC secretary, said: 'When I was first approached, I said, 'Not on your nelly.' Then I realised the financial rewards could be very attractive. The committee was all for it.'

Michael Carlson, vice-president for Europe of Major League Baseball International, which handles merchandise and broadcast rights for the 28 leading clubs in America, said: 'There is a natural affinity between cricket and baseball. It is a coup for Lord's to be invited to host the first major league game in England since the 1920s.

'Our aim in the first year is not to make money for ourselves but to ensure it becomes an annual event.'