Lord’s prayer

It is astonishing that England have not won an Ashes Test match at Lord’s since 1934 — and that one only because Hedley Verity cornered the Aussies on a wicked, fast-drying pitch. The Yorkie left-armer’s eight for 43 dismantled Australia on the third evening as he took the last six wickets in less than an hour, a collapse which had the one-man BBC wireless commentator Howard Marshall in such a tizz of comings and goings in his makeshift eyrie on the roof of the old Tavern that for the next Test at Old Trafford he was provided with a scorer (Arthur Wrigley, a Lancashire groundstaff player who was studying accountancy in his winters). Even more improbable is the fact that ‘Verity’s match’ was England’s solitary Ashes victory on the fabled St John’s Wood acres throughout the 20th century. It was not a very smart move to nominate Lord’s for this opening Test of 2005, and by the time you read this you will know whether the dreaded jinx is holding up.