Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar will deliver the Cowdrey Lecture at the Marylebone Cricket Club, Lord's, on July 29, as part of the MCC's initiation of the Spirit of Cricket campaign.

Initiated in memory of the late former England captain, Sir Colin Cowdrey, who was also International Cricket Council president, the lecture is the third in the series which aims to advocate the spirit of the game.

Gavaskar, who is believed to be out of the country, is expected to address a 300-strong audience, that will include writers, broadcasters, school captains and coaches, apart from MCC members.

The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session, and the panel will be headed by former England Test cricketer Mark Nicholas, current England one-day skipper Michael Vaughan and former Australian wicket keeper Rodney Marsh.

The MCC oversees the laws of the game and included a preamble on the Spirit of the Game in 2000.

The inaugural lecture in the series was delivered by former Australian great and current commentator Richie Benaud in 2001 and the second was by former South African batting maestro Barry Richards last year.

It may be recalled that years ago Gavaskar, who is a member of the International Cricket Council, was disallowed from entering the Lord's cricket ground. He also refused an offer of membership to the MCC in 1990, before accepting it later.

Ironically, Gavaskar, who holds the record of the highest number of Test centuries with 34 tons, never scored a hundred at Lord's. In contrast, he is best remembered for his 188 for the Rest of the World squad that played against MCC in 1987. It was his last first-class match in an illustrious career.

- UNI