The Long Room is a notable, historic room at Lord's cricket ground

Lord's Cricket Ground

Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...

, in St John's Wood

St John's Wood

St John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

"The most evocative four walls in world cricket", the Long Room is situated in the Pavilion

Cricket pavilion

A cricket pavilion is a pavilion at a cricket ground. It is the main building within which the players usually change in dressing rooms and which is the main location for watching the cricket match for members and others...

.

Function

Players walk through the Long Room on their way from the dressing rooms to the middle

Cricket field

A cricket field consists of a large circular or oval-shaped grassy ground on which the game of cricket is played. There are no fixed dimensions for the field but its diameter usually varies between 450 feet to 500 feet...

. The walk from dressing room to cricket field at Lord's is notoriously long and complex. On his Test debut in 1975, David Steele

David Steele

David Stanley Steele was an English international cricketer. Tony Greig picked him for England in 1975, when he was close to retirement from county cricket for Northamptonshire....

 got lost "and ended up in the pavilion's basement toilets".

Members of the MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 and their guests have free access to the room (there are windows with views of the ground) and will often greet Australian

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 batsmen with "witticisms ... like 'See you soon'". On this point, Australian Justin Langer

Justin Langer

Justin Lee Langer AM is a former international cricketer who represented Australia in 105 Test matches and the current Assistant Coach and Batting Coach of the Australian cricket team. A left-handed batsman, his opening partnership with Matthew Hayden was one of the most successful of all time...

, described walking through the Long Room like "being bearhugged by an invisible spirit".

Decor

The Long Room is lined with paintings of famous cricketers and administrators, from the 18th century to the 21st. Portraits of modern, or overseas players amount to a tremendous compliment and are restricted to very few personalities. For example, only four Australian cricketers have ever been honoured in this way: Sir Donald Bradman

Donald Bradman

Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

, Keith Miller

Keith Miller

Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...

, Victor Trumper

Victor Trumper

Victor Thomas Trumper was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found unplayable. Archie MacLaren said of him, "Compared to Victor I was a cab-horse to a Derby...

 and Shane Warne

Shane Warne

Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...

; and of those four, only one has played international cricket in the last 50 years.