Lord's to consider using Australian-made drop-in pitches

Lord's head of cricket Tony Dodemaide said on Saturday the famous ground could soon be using Australian-made drop-in pitches for Test cricket.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) have commissioned two pitches that will be grown in England, but moved in and out of the home of cricket using technology developed by the StrathAyr turf farm in Seymour, near Melbourne.

The pitches will be transferred from the nursery ground practice centre to the main square and could be used for minor matches next season, the Herald Sun newspaper quoted a StrathAyr spokesman as saying.

The spokesman said the MCC hoped ultimately to stage all of their big matches on drop-in wickets, as is the case at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Dodemaide said he thought the experiment would work.

"They can be put into the square when needed and the groundsmen have complete control over their preparation without worrying about fielders running on them," the former Australia player was quoted as saying.

Mail Cricket Editor