Ben Stokes questions high ticket prices for Lord’s Test | Sri Lanka tour of England, 2024

England’s Test skipper Ben Stokes, who is currently injured but present in the dressing room for the Test series, has expressed his disappointment with the ticket prices at Lord’s on the fourth day. 

The fourth day, also the last day of the second Test, had many empty stands, raising the eyebrows of Test cricket aficionados in England. Sri Lanka also couldn’t compete as hard as they would have expected, as the match ended on the fourth day with the home side winning by 190 runs. 

According to the reports, just 9000 fans were present at Lord’s on the fourth day, less than one-third of the venue’s total capacity. 

Stokes remarked on the empty seats and felt that the problem could be easily solved by reducing the ticket prices. Moreover, he also advised caution on reading too much into the lack of audiences for the Test and requested that it stop being proclaimed the ‘death of Test cricket.’

“I don’t think that’s a reflection of Test cricket around the world or Test cricket here,” Stokes said at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London. 

“I think it’s just a pretty easy thing to have been able to do on that fourth day – just make it a bit cheaper for people to come and watch. Pretty easy solution in my eyes.”

“Without Test cricket, I think cricket will die. I mean maybe saying Test cricket’s dying could probably stop being said – because it’s not, never will. It’s the best form of the game,” Stokes further added.

Guy Lavender, the Chief Executive and secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club, which manages the Lord’s, acknowledged the issue and said that the MCC would be paying close attention to the pricing of fourth-day tickets. 

“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 third Test between England and Sri Lanka will be played from September 6 at the Kennington Oval. The home team have already sealed the series 2-0. 

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