The MCC announce urgent talks with ECB

The MCC and the ECB will have urgent talks to discuss worries that Lord's may lose one of its summer Tests in 2009, when the new staging agreements take hold.

Lord's has traditionally received two Tests each summer, owing to being the home of cricket and its grandeur, but with increasing competition from other grounds, there are worries that one of the two Tests may be in jeopardy.

The MCC needs to make a good case to the ECB as to why they should continue to stage the amount of internationals that they do. Part of that will be capacity increases, which could be part of the redevelopment proposals.

Iain Wilton, the head of communications and public affairs, confirmed to Cricinfo that imminent talks were planned, but said that the £100million rumoured to be the cost of the planned redevelopment was "entirely speculative" at this stage.

He said: "The MCC Committee has yet to decide on how, for example, the ground's capacity should be increased - or by how much. When it has developed its thinking further, the club's first priority will be to consult its members."

Lord's is not the only traditional ground to think about redevelopment amid worries of increasing competition. Earlier this week, Surrey unveiled plans to overhaul The Oval in a £35million revamp.