Lord's accused of 'obscene' ticket pricing for England's one-day international against Pakistan

Lord's enjoyed the fastest sales in its history for England's post-lockdown fixtures this summer, despite facing fierce criticism over "extortionate" ticket prices.

Lower Grand Stand seats for the ODI against Pakistan were £165 - three times Premier League average and double that of Centre Court on Wimbledon opening day.

Richard Caborn, the former sports minister, said the prices were an own goal amid unprecedented financial pressures on society caused by Covid-19.

"I would suggest they climb down," he told The Telegraph. "It is extortionate."

The so-called home of cricket became the first major sporting venue to declare it is planning for "full ground capacity" in December thanks to breakthroughs in the Covid-19 vaccine. Marylebone Cricket Club - which rocketed to more than 200,000 sales on Monday - vehemently defended itself from criticism over prices, pointing instead to £60 tickets for the Test match against India.

"Tickets to watch international cricket at Lord's are sold across six main categories that suit a range of budgets," a spokeswoman said.

Optimism over the return of crowds has been undermined by a third lockdown and recent surges in the new variant, but the venue stood by its commitment to put tickets on sale for the Pakistan fixture in July, as well as India in August.

However, a host of fans took issue with the Lower Grand Stand prices. Caborn said Lord's should have learned from the mistakes made by the Premier League in their ill-fated plan to launch pay-per-view matches last autumn.

He added: "They're going to find themselves being unduly criticised because they're not taking notice of all the circumstances surrounding a lot of people now. And the Premier League have been found wanting on this, and, if they're not careful, cricket will be in the same category. Trying to extract out of fans these unfair sums is very dangerous.”

Steve Dolman, a Derbyshire fan, added that the prices were "obscene" after journalist Dan Whiting tweeted: "In a year where a lot of people have lost their jobs, the ECB have lost their marbles, customers and quite possibly, the next generation.”

Lord's responded in a statement: "Unrestricted views to watch England v India...start at £60 per adult. For some seats, prices are £15 lower than the England v Australia Test in 2019. We are also enabling more families and young people to experience international cricket at Lord's.

“Our tickets for under 16s remain at £10 each, meaning that a family of four can attend a full day of Test cricket at the weekend, (the most popular for families), seated in the mid-range category for £200, or the lowest range category for as little as £70 for four.”

The prices were announced as Lord's expects to be another £10 million down in 2021. The MCC has fared better than many other sporting outfits due to the loyalty of its membership base, which has remained at full capacity since the first lockdown. However, the club has told its members in a letter that "the budget suggests we could be around £10milllion worse off than a normal year”.

Based on the committee's "prudent" projections, a cash outflow is forecast at just under £12 million, of which £7.4million is being spent on redevelopment projects.