Lord's could play host to the Indian Premier League

Lord's and The Brit Oval could be about to stage matches in the Indian Premier League.

According to reports in India, the middle part of the seven-week 2009 tournament may be held in Britain.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that talks have taken place but that there is still a lot to be resolved.

"The ECB has held further discussions with the BCCI during the Test Match in Mohali, which include both the future tours programme and also Twenty20 cricket," said an ECB spokesman.

"It has been agreed that detailed discussions concerning future programmes will be scheduled for January."

The idea of a block of IPL games being transported to London is possible.

Playing at Lord's would give the IPL another stamp of approval while The Oval has already shown it can attract large crowds to watch mainly Asian players by staging well-supported fund-raising games. And with leading England players like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff likely to snapped up by Indian franchises at February's auction, interest should be greater still.

The only obstacle to playing next year is the busy schedule already in place. The Test series starts with West Indies at Lord's in May followed by a proposed Stanford quadrangular tournament at Lord's, the Twenty20 World Cup, a five-match Ashes series and seven one-day internationals with Australia.