London cricket fans spoilt for choice as Oval ups the ante to be best ground, writes Tom Collomosse

There has never been a better time to be a cricket fan in London. Two top-class venues, just four miles apart, both with serious plans to improve.

For virtually every cricketer, there is no place like Lord’s. “With the history of Lord’s, it is very difficult to look past that,” said England captain Joe Root, as he prepared for this week’s Test at The Oval, the 100th at the ground. “But this ground is steeped in history itself.”

Neither would say it publicly, but there is a keen rivalry between the two. Lord’s has the sense of tradition and picturesque setting, The Oval the raucous atmosphere and inner-city charm. Yet Lord’s has always had the upper hand. Major finals take place there, as do two Tests per summer. The ECB offices are there, and it is nearly always the venue for major announcements about the English game.

Could that ever change? Surrey have built quite a powerbase at The Oval. As well as Surrey’s offices, the Professional Cricketers’ Association — the players’ union — has a base there, as does cricket charity Chance To Shine.

Surrey have worked ferociously hard at marketing Twenty20 cricket at The Oval, with smart poster and social media campaigns, to the extent that sell-outs are now the norm. The recent match against Middlesex was sold out more than a month in advance, and it is understood Surrey could have shifted 40,000 tickets.

Soon, they might. If it makes smooth progress, the £50million redevelopment plans would increase the ground’s capacity to as much as 40,000. That would make it comfortably the biggest ground in London - Lord’s redevelopment would take the capacity to a little over 32,000 - and the largest in the world outside India and Australia.

“Lord’s will always be special because of the way they do things, but we put on an equally special show in a different fashion,” said Richard Gould, the Surrey chief executive. “We seek to be different from Lord’s, by promoting what we do well.

“We want to increase the capacity because we are selling out our matches. But we rely on international cricket to continue to invest in developing the ground. While Twenty20 does very well, international cricket is really important and we need to ensure we have a good supply of it in the future.

“After 2020, there will be fewer internationals, but if we were to retain the international cricket we have, coupled with the growth of Twenty20, it would be sufficient to deliver on our plans.”

At Lord’s they believe the focus is on quality, rather than quantity. It has regularly been named the No1 venue for customer experience, and MCC are conscious not to jeopardise that.

This week, MCC’s committee recommended members reject a redevelopment plan that would have meant the construction of flats at the Nursery End. That would have put about £100m into the MCC coffers but once more, members are loth to approve anything that would change Lord’s atmosphere.

As these two friendly rivals battle it out, the rest of the country should be careful. As London’s grounds match one another stride for stride, will the other Test grounds have the resources to keep up?