Bunhill: MCC committee

I HEAR something of a contest has developed this year for election to the committee of the MCC, the spiritual home of cricket. Six contenders have put themselves forward. Two of them are rather more at home in the boardroom than the pav. Step forward Sir Ian MacLaurin, who captains Tesco, and Stanley Metcalfe, the gallant 11th man who is desperately attempting a last-wicket double century at Queens Moat Hotels.

There are only four spare places on the committee, so they have some canvassing to do. MCC members vote on 1 March. Another contender is Peter May, the former England captain and chairman of the England selectors.

MacLaurin, 56, has the backing of his chum Sir Colin Cowdrey, another ex-captain of England. He also has the dubious distinction of playing for the XL Club - 'nice old duffers, but unspeakable fielders,' says my man in the slips.

Metcalfe is seconded by Roger Gibbs, the chairman of Wellcome Trust, who is more often to be seen at Highbury supporting Arsenal than in the hushed quietness of Lords. An Oxford blue, Metcalfe, 61, is a member of the immensely exclusive I Zingari cricket club - 'the snobbiest in the country but annoyingly good', I'm told.

(Photographs omitted)