Lord's to get ODI honours boards

Women will feature on the honours boards at Lord's for the first time after the Marylebone Cricket Club announced the introduction of boards for men's and women's One-Day Internationals.

For years, players who take a five-wicket haul or score a century in a Test match at 'The Home of Cricket' have had their names etched on the famous board in the players' dressing rooms. And after a meeting of the MCC this week, it's been announced that a similar board will be introduced for the same milestones in ODIs, giving equal weighting to men and women.

It means Anya Shrubsole's match-winning haul of 6-46 in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday will feature when the new boards are installed.

There have been five ODI centuries scored by Australians at Lord's, the most recent being Ricky Ponting's 111 in a 2005 match that guided Australia to a comfortable seven-wicket win.

The highest score by an Australian in an ODI there remains Graham Wood's 114 not out in 1985. Geoff Marsh scored an unbeaten 111 in 1989 and two players have scored 104; Andrew Symonds in 2004 (not out) and Mark Waugh in 1999.

There has also been four instances of five-wicket hauls from Austarlians in ODIs; Brett Lee took 5-41, the best figures by an Australian in an ODI at the venue, in the same match as Ponting's century.

Lee also took 5-49 from nine overs at Lord's in 2009 while Michael Kasprowicz's 5-47 in 2004 and Gary Gilmour's 5-48 in 1975 could also feature on the honours boards if Lord's opts to include all past performances.

"We are looking into an honours board in one-day cricket for everybody," MCC chief executive Derek Brewer told the UK Telegraph. 

"There are some practical issues we have to address first, such as where it will be situated and how long back in time we go but it is certainly on our minds and an ODI honours board for both men and women would be the way forward."

Shrubsole had playfully added her own name to the honours board after her match-winning haul on Sunday, attaching a piece of tape bearing her name to the Test board for bowlers. The practice is common with male players as well, who tape their own name to the board before it's officially added after a match.

Lord's, who only started admitting female members in 1999, has often been criticised in the past for discriminatory rules and policies towards women. Up until 1999, Queen Elizabeth II was the only woman allowed in the members' area at the ground.

But following the raging success of Sunday's World Cup final, which was sold out, the MCC says it will be pushing for more women's international and domestic matches in the future.

"I think Lord’s is changing,” said chairman Gerald Corbett.

"We are much more open than we were. As the game changes we have to be at the heart of all those changes, whether it is T20, one day or women’s cricket because we are the home of cricket.

"That is our role and our distinctiveness. That is how we have to keep up with the times.

"People love us because we are traditional and conservative, but we have to move with the times."

The huge success of the World Cup in the UK was laid bare by the television ratings for the final, which The Times reported was watched by 1.1 million Brits on Sunday.

Shown on subscription service Sky Sports, the audience was the highest for any women's match in the UK, 400,000 higher than the figure for June's Champions Trophy final between India and Pakistan and almost three times that for the last day of the men's Test match at Lord's between England and South Africa earlier this month.