Rose Bowl To Host First Ever Test Match

The Rose Bowl will host its first ever Test match when Sri Lanka and India tour England next summer.

??Hampshire’s home ground is set to be the venue for the third Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka that starts on 16th June.

??Cardiff’s Swalec Stadium and Lord’s will play host to the first and second Tests in the series.??England will also take on Sri Lanka in a five-match one-day international series and a Twenty20 before India visit the country.

India will then take on their hosts in a four-match npower Test Series ahead of a NatWest International T20 and a five match NatWest Series between the two countries later in the summer.??

Speaking exclusively to Sport Industry TV last month Keith Bradshaw, chief executive of the MCC, revealed that he thinks the England and Wales Cricket Board’s current method of selecting Test grounds is fundamentally flawed.??

It is feared that Lord’s could lose one of its two Tests a year as, under the current system, it is not a guaranteed venue – in contrast to The Brit Insurance Oval which is assured a Test match every year.??

With other venues such as the Rose Bowl being granted Tests those fears could further and Bradshaw said: ‘There has been artificial barriers placed in front of us that are not helping the game as a whole and we should be working together with other Test match grounds.’?

?’Instead we find ourselves in a competitive situation where we bid against each other and in most situations the highest bid wins,’ he added.

??Bradshaw admitted that he is seeking to restructure the current selection policy: ‘I happen to think that we have the model wrong and I’m working with some of the other Test match grounds to see if we can come up with a more collaborative approach and one that is good for the game.’

Watch the interview with Keith Bradshaw here.