Putting the Spirit of Cricket into words was the brainchild of the former England captain Colin Cowdrey. It is now enshrined as the preamble to the official Laws of Cricket. And the Marylebone Cricket Club - the guardians of the Laws - is planning to spread the word as widely as possible this coming summer. Ted Dexter, who is now MCC's president, revealed in an exclusive interview with Wisden.com that MCC is to push the Spirit of Cricket message at its matches this year. MCC plays over 400 matches against clubs and schools each season, and cards carrying the text of the Spirit of Cricket essay will be given out at all of them.

Speaking at Lord's, Dexter told Wisden.com: "Cricket is a very special game. It lends itself to being played in a chivalrous and friendly way, rather than a mean and dispiriting way."

He went on: "The lovely thing is the way it [the Spirit of Cricket initiative] has caught on so well. The ICC has given it a lot of support, and so have individual countries."

Dexter, who was known as "Lord Ted" during his 62-Test career, admitted smilingly: "It's going to be a bit of a test for the MCC players to live up to our ideals."

Dexter also revealed that MCC had spotted a loophole in the international regulations, which allowed England to get away with negative bowling in their recent series against India. He added that he was "thrilled" that ICC had asked MCC for ways to tighten the wording of the Laws and regulations.

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