The Lord's slope is a geographical gradient at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, England. The slope is in the cricket pitch and runs from the north end of the ground to the south end with a drop of .

History

The land on which Lord's was built was originally near a duck pond on a hill in St. John's Wood. It was leased by

Thomas Lord Thomas Lord (23 November 1755 – 13 January 1832) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1787 to 1802. He made a brief comeback, playing in one further match in 1815. Overall, Lord made 90 known appearances ...

following a request from

George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea (4 November 1752 – 2 August 1826), was an important figure in the history of cricket. His main contributions to the game were patronage and organisation but Winchilsea, an amateur, was also a very keen pla ...

to find a location where cricket could be played in relative privacy. Lord's was built around the slope and was enclosed by stands. In the 21st century, there were calls for the slope to be levelled as a result of the advent of drop-in pitches. Smaller ridges in the pitch had previously been removed by surveyors. However, the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

rejected these calls stating that removal of the slope would require rebuilding of Lord's and would mean that the ground would be unable to host

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

for five years as the new pitch would need time to mature after the levelling. In 2002, the Lord's outfield was replaced and drainage installed. During this work, several small deviations in the pitch were removed, but the slope remained. During the 2012 Summer Olympics, when Lord's hosted the Archery tournament, there were suggestions that the slope would affect the archers. However, British archer Alison Williamson rejected this, stating that the slope was barely noticeable.

Cricket

The Lord's slope is often used to advantage by bowlers in cricket matches at Lord's. Because of the slope's angles, seam bowlers from the Pavilion End and swing bowlers from the Nursery End gain an advantage as the natural variation of the slope alters the bounce of the ball when bowling. The gradient of the slope is noted to affect right-handed batsmen more than left-handed batsmen as the ball naturally moves towards left-handed batsmen. Despite the advantages the slope gives to bowlers, some batsmen consistently make high scores when playing at Lord's.

References

{{coord, 51.530, -0.172, display=title Cricket culture Geography of the City of Westminster Lord's Sports culture in the United Kingdom