# Cowdrey Lecture

The Cowdrey Lecture, also referred to as the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, is an annual event organised by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's Cricket Ground.
The event was first hosted in 2001, following the death of its eponym Late Lord Colin Cowdrey, in December 2000. Colin Cowdrey is reported to have been instrumental in adapting the Captains' Charter as the Spirit of Cricket and subsequently adding it as the preamble to the Laws of Cricket.
It is held annually during the English summer and is delivered by pre-eminent cricketing personalities. The event is an invite only affair, with high-profile cricketing personalities, représentatives of cricketing boards and journalists in attendance. The format of the event is simple: the Cowdrey Lecture followed by an informal discussion/question-answer session with a panel of distinguished personalities.

## List of all lectures till date

Cowdrey Lecturers, chronologically since inception. :
| Year | Lecturer | Country of Lecturer | Key Message | Panel |
| 2001 | Richie Benaud | Australia | No known recording. Manuscript available on the Lord's official website. | |
| 2002 | Barry Richards | South Africa | | |
| 2003 | Sunil Gavaskar | India | | |
| 2004 | Clive Lloyd | West Indies | | |
| 2005 | Geoffrey Boycott | England | | |
| 2006 | Martin Crowe | New Zealand | | |
| 2007 | Christopher Martin-Jenkins | England | | |
| 2008 | Desmond Tutu* | South Africa | Racism and sports, apartheid, impact of sports on politics, Spirit of Cricket | |
| 2009 | Adam Gilchrist | Australia | | |
| 2010 | Imran Khan | Pakistan | His struggles to introduce neutral umpires in cricket | |
| 2011 | Kumar Sangakkara* | Sri Lanka | The history of Sri Lankan cricket, Spirit of Cricket, socio-cultural impact of cricket. | Mark Nicholas, Kumar Sangakkara, Michael Holding, Andrew Strauss |
| 2012 | Tony Greig | England | | |
| 2013 | Simon Taufel | Australia | | |
| 2014 | Sir Ian Botham | England | | |
| 2015 | Rod Marsh | Australia | | Mark Nicholas, Alastair Cook, Mahela Jayawardene |
| 2016 | Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | Respecting the opposition, running out Muttiah Muralitharan, retirement, becoming test captain, the death of Phillip Hughes | Mark Nicholas, Kumar Sangakkara, Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum |
| 2017 | Brian Lara | West Indies | | Mark Nicholas, Jonny Bairstow, Anya Shrubsole |
| 2018 | Dave Richardson | South Africa | Spirit of Cricket, Code of conduct, ball tampering incident of Newlands, Women's Cricket, Player penalties and punishments. | Mark Nicholas, Dave Richardson, Sanjay Manjrekar, Jason Roy |
| 2019 | Mike Brearley | England | Spirit of Cricket, the Mankad dismissal, what makes a good captain, the Cricket World Cup 2019 | Mark Nicholas, Shane Warne, Mike Brearley, Kumar Sangakkara |
| 2021 | Stephen Fry | England | | |
| 2023 | Andrew Strauss | England | | Angus Fraser, Tammy Beaumont, Jonny Bairstow |
* - Denotes Lecturers who received standing ovations from the audience.

### Notable facts

* Desmond Tutu and Stephen Fry are the only non cricketing personalities to have ever delivered a Cowdrey lecture.
* Desmond Tutu, Kumar Sangakkara and Stephen Fry are the only personalities to have received a standing ovation for their speech.
* The event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

## Lecturers by country

| Country | Number of lecturers |
| England | 7 |
| Australia | 4 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| New Zealand | 2 |
| West Indies | 2 |
| India | 1 |
| Pakistan | 1 |
| Sri Lanka | 1 |