Spencer Ponsonby Fane laid the first stone on the 17th September, 1889, and everything was completed by the beginning of 1890. It is capable of accommodating 3,000 people, and is a vast improvement on the old structure, which had weathered the storms of 65 years. The entire size of the ground is 12 acres; the enclosed part for playing matches, 6 acres. All round it improvements have been made and are being made yearly. Ten men are employed throughout the year to look after it, and everything in connection with it is in apple-pie order.
The Marylebone Cricket Club is the first in the world, and is held in deserved respect by everyone who plays the game. At home and abroad, every Englishman refers to it with pardonable pride, and upholds it as the chief bulwark of our national game.
The M.C.C. is everywhere acknowledged to be the maker and preserver of the laws. It has been accused of being too conservative in some respects, and of not marching quickly enough in the interests of the game; but my experience of the club has shown me that it has been quick to act immediately a grievance has been made clear. Rarely a year has passed in which some point of law has not cropped up, and received calm and careful consideration. Unfair bowling, the selection of umpires, county qualifications, disputes between players of the North and South in fact, everything bearing on the welfare of the game have in turn been discussed and decided; and the opinion is general to-day that the old club has been faithful to the trust which has been placed in its hands for upwards of a hundred years.
The centenary celebration, which was held on the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th June, 1887, was an important landmark in the history of the club. The first three days were devoted to first-class cricket, M.C.C. and Ground v. England, when A. E. Stoddart and Shrewsbury batted in fine form for the latter. The
