London, June 22 : Cricket authorities here on Friday outlined their safety measures ahead of this weekend's triangular tournament final between Australia and Pakistan at Lord's.

The competition has been marred by a number of incidents of bad crowd behaviour, mainly involving Pakistan fans, that has led to pitch invasions at Edgbaston, Headingley and Trent Bridge with firecrackers also posing a threat to crowd and player safety.

Roger Knight, the secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns Lord's, said: "We're planning for a cricket match. We are looking forward to an exciting contest between two good teams."

"As the ground authority, MCC has a responsibility to provide a safe environment for players, umpires and spectators." Lord's is known as being the most traditionalist of all England's cricket grounds.

Knight, however, refused to say if everyone would be searched, which could cause problems if Pakistan fans feel they are being unfairly singled out.

Knight refused to say how many stewards would be in place but did add that their numbers and those of the police would be increased with a constant watch being kept on the perimeter of the ground as well as inside.

Closed circuit television would be used and that could lead to prosecutions.

Broadcasters have agreed not to show crowd shots during play and no images of spectators will appear on the giant videoscreens here in a bid to ease tensions.

However, Knight said that the temporary mesh netting, which had proved partly successful at Trent Bridge, would not be used at Lord's.

"We looked at mesh netting but we decided not to have it here. Each ground configuration is different and all our efforts are being directed at preventing a build-up of people on the boundary edge."

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tim Lamb said the plans had met with the approval of both sides. "I had a briefing with the Australian Cricket Board chief executive Malcolm Speed and Brigadier Rana of the Pakistan Cricket Board and they are happy with the additional security measures we've put in place."

Knight said a further meeting with team captains Steve Waugh and Waqar Younis had been scheduled for later on Friday.