Lord’s could be half empty on day four of England Test with just 7,000 tickets sold

Day four of England’s Test match at Lord’s this week is likely to be played in front of swathes of empty seats as only 7,000 tickets have been sold – and some 6,000 remain available for the first three days.

Members are likely to boost the day-four crowd to close to 12,000, but Lord’s could be less than half full on Sunday for the second Test against Sri Lanka.

MCC will hope for a thrilling first day that will help drive sales for the weekend towards the 31,180 capacity figure, but selling tickets for matches that do not involve India or Australia is proving harder each year.

Thousands of tickets priced £115-£140 for adults and £15-£40 for concessions are available for each of the first three days, but it is possible crowds could end up close to capacity when walk-up sales are taken into account.

The swift conclusion to last month’s West Indies Test, which ended before lunch on day three, has been partly blamed for the poor tickets sales on day four. Also the late staging of the Lord’s Test at the end of August – only one other at the ground has started later – and the school holidays ending on Monday are partly to blame, as is England’s positive style of play, which is making it less likely games will stretch long into day four. Lord’s also has to sell two Tests each summer.

A similar situation is also developing at the Oval for the third Test. Tickets for days one to three have almost all been snapped up, but day four is proving hard to sell. There were lots of empty seats for the first Test at Old Trafford last week, even though the ground reduced its capacity from the Ashes last year by having a smaller party stand.

“Across the first three days of the Test match against Sri Lanka, we’re delighted that Lord’s will be near to capacity, closely matching the sell-out against West Indies in July. The sales throughout the summer of 2024 have been the best outside an Ashes year,” said an MCC spokesman.

“Day four has been slower, likely in part to England’s dominant performance here earlier this summer and the end of the school holidays, but we continue to encourage people to come to day four [by] including U16 tickets from £15.”

Tickets for the ODI at Lord’s against Australia next month are sold out and next summer the ground will host a World Test Championship final for the first time and an England v India Test match. Demand will be high for both games.

In 2022, MCC were criticised for the price of tickets for a New Zealand Test match when concession tickets were the same as adult prices. Since then more seats in the lower-price tiers have been made available but the maximum price of around £140 has remained the same.