• MCC will adopt a tougher stance on the behavior of its members.
• The club will restrict access for members in and around the stairwells.
• The revised regulations will go into effect for the Women’s Ashes T20I match.

Following the verbal abuse directed at the Australian team during the second Test of the Ashes 2023 series against England, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) declared that it will adopt a “tougher stance” on the behavior of its members and implement steps to safeguard players at Lord’s.

After the altercation in the Long Room on the fifth day of the match, which Australia won to take a 2-0 series lead, three players were punished. The incident took place during the lunch break following Jonny Bairstow’s contentious stumping.

British media quoted MCC chair Bruce Carnegie-Brown as saying in an email addressed to the group’s members that those who challenged the Australian players “brought shame” on the club.

The club will restrict access for members in and around the stairwells when teams are entering or exiting the field and expand the size of the cordoned-off area that teams use to pass through the Long Room on their route to their dressing rooms.

“During those periods, members will be required to wait at the ground floor or top floor level, with no access to either staircase,” Carnegie-Brown wrote.

The revised regulations will go into effect for the Women’s Ashes Twenty20 International match and continue through the rest of the 2023 season before being reviewed by MCC’s committee for the pavilion protocols.

“The club will be taking a tougher stance on the general behavior of members,” Carnegie-Brown added. “We expect members not only to heed the words of our stewards in this regard, but to police one another’s behavior.”

Also Read

Ashes 2023: England’s Joe Root pleads for calm after Jonny Bairstow controversy

Alex Carey under-armed the ball at the stumps after Bairstow left his...