Paul Sheldon and Jim Cumbes, the chief executives of Surrey and Lancashire respectively, who are both in competition with Lord’s for the staging of Test matches, expressed their support yesterday for a possible merger between MCC and Middlesex, even though a combination of their assets and resources would amount to a team who could prove dominant in English domestic cricket.

Keith Bradshaw, the Secretary of Lord’s, has told The Times that he would like to create a combined team that would become “the Manchester United of cricket” in terms of professionalism and success, which would enhance the England team by making it easier for players to bridge the gap between county and Test cricket. This was based on his belief that domestic cricket in his native Australia is closer in standard to the international game.

“I am sure a merger would make perfect sense in that Middlesex would be the county of MCC,” Sheldon, whose county is their oldest rival, said. “The best way of ensuring rough parity between counties is to introduce salary capping. If an Abramovich model [Chelsea FC] comes into cricket, the governing body would wish to prevent that happening by controlling the distribution of money.

“Surrey have always been in favour of salary capping. We were very supportive of the paper prepared by David Collier, the chief executive of the ECB, when he was still with Nottinghamshire in 2005, which was voted down by the old First-class Forum. I understand that the ECB is rejuvenating that paper and going forward with it. It would prevent the wealthiest three or four counties dominating the game.”

Cumbes, whose bid for further Test cricket at Old Trafford will be lodged with the ECB by the end of this month before it deliberates over new staging agreements, said that any merger would only strengthen the standard of county cricket. “I can see some grumbles from smaller counties over unrivalled wealth, but that’s life,” he said. “I can’t see any real downside and I don’t foresee more than two Tests a summer being played at Lord’s.

“Whoever you are, you want to play at Lord’s. It is not the first time a proposal has been made for an MCC team to take part in the county championship – the Test Match Consortium which ran the six major grounds discussed this nine years ago. Only one question pops out: how does MCC’s responsibility for the Laws sit with this?”

Establishing Lord’s as a centre of excellence would tie in with the £100 million ground development. The anomaly of Middlesex, which was swallowed up by Greater London in 1965, would be removed by a merger, but, the members, who own the club in equal shares through the Industrial and Provident Society, would have the final say. They have been appraised of the development plans. So, too, would MCC’s membership, who, as with the introduction of women, would be required to form a two-thirds majority in favour of a merger.

Chris Lowe, who sits on both the Middlesex committee and MCC’s membership and general purposes committee, has referred to the relationship between the owners of Lord’s and its tenants, which has existed since Middlesex first played on the ground in 1877, as having never been better than in recent years. Informal discussions between the clubs emanated from Bradshaw’s desire to make the poorer relations feel at home.

Neil Davidson, the chairman of Leicestershire, was also supportive. “I am sure MCC, a wonderful organisation that has been much maligned, would be motivated by more than becoming the Manchester United of cricket and the most successful side in the game,” he said.

“It doesn’t necessarily follow that a bigger organisation would trample over everyone else - if salary capping came into being, that would not happen. I think it is an interesting idea. All steps taken to improve the England team over the past decade have not led to any lasting improvement, in spite of winning the Ashes in 2005.”

Lording it

— The ancient county of Middlesex was incorporated into Greater London in 1965, 101 years after the county cricket club was formed.

— Seven brothers in the Walker family ran the club in the early years. Russell Walker, who had played in their first match in 1864, was the county’s president in 1920 when they won their second county championship.

— After a nomadic few years, the county began using Lord’s in 1877.

— They have won or shared the championship 12 times and have won eight one-day trophies. Words by Patrick Kidd

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