The Marylebone Cricket Club has promised to look into its pricing structure for the penultimate day of a Test match in future after a low turnout at Lord’s for England against Sri Lanka.
While tickets for under-16s were just £15, the cheapest available for adults turning up on Sunday morning to watch England claim the eight wickets they needed for a series win were priced at £95.
Cheaper tickets were available in advance, including those with a restricted view, while the MCC announced it had lowered the gate price from 3:45pm to £15 for adults and £5 for children.
Amid a sparse crowd turning up at the 31,100-capacity venue, MCC chief executive and secretary Guy Lavender intends to explore fourth-day prices following a recent trend of early finishes to Tests.
“We will be paying particular attention to the structure of fourth day tickets in our pricing reviews given the way that Test cricket is now being played,” Lavender said in a statement.
The MCC stated ticket sales in 2024 have been the best outside of an Ashes year, with the first three days near to capacity and closely matching the sell-out against the West Indies earlier in the summer.
However, England beating the Windies inside three days has been thought to have had a knock-on consequence, as has staging this Test later than usual, so close to the end of the school holidays.
Following criticism on social media over the cost of entry on Sunday, Lavender explained lowering prices would have created a logistical headache as many had already paid the whole amount.
“Sales were slower for the fourth day of this match than v West Indies,” Lavender added.
“(That is) likely in part to England’s dominant performance at Lord’s earlier this summer, and this Test being later than normal at the end of the school holidays.
“Earlier this year, we sold out the opening four days of the England v West Indies match and were close to doing so for the first three days of this match.
“From the outset we priced Under-16 tickets at just £15 for weekend days of our Test matches and introduced a group discount for day four.
“It is difficult to dynamically discount tickets in hindsight when thousands of supporters have applied through our 2023 ballot process and paid the full price.”