Last year's Lord's Test match between England and West Indies

Roger Knight told BBC Sport: "Lord's is known as the home of cricket and I think it is something that is likely to continue. We would like it that way."

The ICC announced on Monday that it would move to the UAE to take advantage of more favourable tax breaks.

Knight said: "It's terribly sad but finance drives many things these days."

Though the ICC paid around �180,000 a year to rent their office space at Lord's, Knight is not anxiously hunting around for a new tenant.

A recent decision to do all the catering in-house has created 25 new jobs and the European Cricket Council is currently sharing an office in the pavilion with the MCC's cricket department.

I'm sure our good relationship with the ICC will continue Roger Knight

Knight said: "We are bulging at the seams in every respect - whether it's new MCC staff or facilities needed for staff. We are very tight in certain areas.

"There are other bodies that would love to make use of our facilities but our priority is to make sure we have enough space for our own staff."

The England and Wales Cricket Board, itself still based at Lord's, fully sanctioned the ICC's move to Dubai.

A spokesman said: "The ICC's decision to relocate to Dubai was the best option available."

At one point the ECB was seriously considering moving from Lord's to Loughborough to allow the ICC to take up some of its own office space.

But with the move to Dubai confirmed, the ECB looks set to remain in north-west London for the time being.