Lord’s is set to become the first ground to host a professional county cricket match on a hybrid pitch.  The MCC has announced that a partially plastic pitch will be laid at the end edge of the square nearest the Grandstand and is scheduled to be used for a match between the MCC and MCC Young Cricketers on 2 May.

The new pitch could then be used by Middlesex for a limited overs match later in the season.

The inclusion of plastic yarn will mean that the pitch should not deteriorate as quickly as an all-grass surface, enabling several Twenty20 or 50-over games to be played on the one pitch. The cost of a pitch has been estimated at £6000, with a life of around 10 years before it has to be replaced.

As things stand, a hybrid pitch cannot be used for Test Matches or First-Class games because they do not wear over the course of a game as detailed by the ECB, but the hybrid surfaces could be used for bowlers run-ups at either end of the pitch.

Lord’s is not the first ground to install a hybrid pitch. Warwickshire put one down last year at Edgbaston, but primarily for practice as it cannot be used for first-team games because it is too close to the boundary.

The pressure is on however to move to hybrid pitches sited in the central area of the square (the so-called television pitches) ahead of the launch of the ECB’s new city-based Twenty20 tournament in 2020.