Lord's has announced that Karl McDermott who has joined Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from Hampshire County Cricket Club has started his new role this month, replacing Mick Hunt, who is retiring from the role after 49 seasons.

Karl McDermott pictured on the Lord's website

The pair will work alongside each other for a month before Hunt officially retires from the role at the end of the year, as Lord’s prepares for a busy summer of international and domestic cricket.

There will be five ICC Cricket World Cup matches, including the Final, and Ireland’s inaugural Test Match at the Home of Cricket before England take on Australia as part of the Ashes Series.

Karl is quoted on Lord's website saying, “I am very excited about my new role and I am already looking forward to a busy and challenging season in 2019.

“Being Mick’s successor is a huge honour, and I aim to keep the extremely high standards that he has set at Lord’s during his long and distinguished career.”

Karl spent seventeen years at Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin before taking up the role of deputy head groundsman at the Ageas Bowl in 2009, ahead of the ground’s inaugural Test Match in 2011.

He became head groundsman at Hampshire in 2016 and twelve months later, presided over England’s victory over India, the third Test Match to be held at the Ageas Bowl.