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Cowdrey Lecture

Tailenders to star in 2024 MCC Cowdrey Lecture

JIMMY ANDERSON, GREG JAMES AND FELIX WHITE WILL HOST AN EVENING OF CRICKET CHAT AND DISCUSSION LIVE FROM LORD'S, BRINGING AN ENTERTAINING TWIST TO THE USUAL FORMAT.

The Tailenders will be joined by special guests, ex- England International Stuart Broad and Isa Guha, on stage for an informal evening of cricket chat and discussion in front of an audience of 600 guests – live from the Nursery Pavilion on Thursday 21 March. 

Members tickets were distributed via ballot and are now no longer available, however, the event will be live streamed for free via Lord’s YouTube and Facebook channels. Log on from 6.40pm to enjoy this one-off event from the comfort of your home.

You can also view previous MCC Cowdrey Lectures delivered by cricketing enthusiasts and legends such as Sir Andrew Strauss (2023), Stephen Fry (2021) and Mike Brearley (2019) – see below for the full list.

History

The event is named after Lord Colin Cowdrey, the former England captain who is credited with initiating the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ – an outline for fair play that was later officially added as a preamble to the Laws of Cricket.

Lord Cowdrey passed away in December 2000 and in his memory, the Cowdrey Lecture was born. The first lecture took place in 2001 and was delivered by the former Australian captain Richie Benaud.

The speakers have customarily been distinguished former cricketers or cricketing personalities, other than when Desmond Tutu delivered the Lecture in 2008. Kumar Sangakkara, in 2011, is the only player who was still active in their playing career at the time of giving the Lecture.

The last lecture with delivered by current MCC President, Stephen Fry.

Previous Speakers

The full list of previous speakers are as follows:

2001 Richie Benaud Australia
2002 Barry Richards South Africa
2003 Sunil Gavaskar India
2004 Clive Lloyd West Indies
2005 Geoffrey Boycott England
2006 Martin Crowe New Zealand
2007 Christopher Martin-Jenkins England
2008 Desmond Tutu South Africa
2009 Adam Gilchrist Australia
2010 Imran Khan Pakistan
2011 Kumar Sangakkara Sri Lanka
2012 Tony Greig England
2013 Simon Taufel Australia
2014 Sir Ian Botham England
2015 Rod Marsh Australia
2016 Brendon McCullum New Zealand
2017 Brian Lara West Indies
2018 Dave Richardson  South Africa
2019 Mike Brearley England
2021 Stephen Fry England
2022 Sir Andrew Strauss England
Panel

The lecture has also typically been followed by a panel discussion, which has seen several other influential cricketing personalities discussing significant topics from the game. In recent years, the panel has included personalities such as Shane Warne, Michael Holding, Eoin Morgan, Anya Shrubsole, Sir Alastair Cook, Mahela Jayawardene and Jonny Bairstow.