Lord's to stage first floodlit match

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LONDON, Jul 27 (AFP): Lord's Cricket Ground is to stage its first floodlit match in September, owners Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) announced Friday.
Temporary floodlights will be installed for the Second Division Pro40 League one-day match between Middlesex, who are based at Lord's, and Derbyshire on September 10.
Keith Bradshaw, the Australian secretary and chief executive of MCC, said: "MCC is delighted to be hosting its first floodlit match at Lord's. We are pleased that Westminster Council has approved the use of temporary floodlights for the September 10 encounter and are greatly looking forward to hosting another big occasion.
"This will be an historic match for all concerned, which I'm sure will prove popular with members and public alike," hed added of a fixture that had been switched from its original venue of Southgate, Middlesex's 'second' home ground, in north London.
"Lord's is a world-class venue and we're always looking at ways to maintain and improve our facilities. A match under temporary floodlights will not only end the season at Lord's on a high note, but will provide us with very useful information with regards the staging of such matches here."
England is due to host the World Twenty20 in 2009 with the inaugural edition taking place in South Africa this September.
Twenty20 matches, pioneered in England, have proped popular with spectators wanting to watch cricket after office hours and that has led them to requiring floodlights with some matches ending when daylight is fading.
Lord's, which styles itself as the "home of cricket", may feel floodlights are required to maintain its pre-eminent position among English cricket venues although it has been thought in the past that objections from local residents and Westminster Council would prevent permanent structures being built around the ground.
Several grounds in England already have permanent floodlights including Hampshire's Rose Bowl ground, Hove - the home of county champions Sussex -, Chelmsford, Essex's headquarters east of London, Derby and Cardiff.