Ben Stokes calls for review into ticket prices as Lord’s set for empty seats

Around 16,000 seats remain unsold at Lord’s for England’s first Test against New Zealand and new captain Ben Stokes the issue of ticket prices needs to be “looked at properly”

New England Test captain Ben Stokes has urged cricket chiefs to examine ticket prices after it emerged that the first Test under his captaincy is set to have thousands of empty seats.

Around 16,000 seats remain unsold at Lord’s for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Test between England and New Zealand, with the Barmy Army critical of the expensive ticket prices amid the cost of living crisis. As of Wednesday afternoon, the day before the Test is due to start, almost 700 tickets are unsold for day one, with the cheapest price a whopping £110 (including for under 16s).

Of the thousands of tickets that remain unsold for the remaining days, the vast majority are also priced at over £100. Chris Millard, managing director of the Barmy Army told the Telegraph : “We do not get tickets at Lord’s as a group, but speaking to a lot of people who go every year they have been put off due to price and the cost of living crisis.”

And Stokes believes the issue needs to be addressed. Speaking ahead of the Test, he said: “The ticket prices is something that I think is going to have to be looked at properly.

“What is cricket without its fans? What is sport without its fans? We want to be attracting people to come and watch us because of the cricket that we play and how successful we are.

“But I guess you have to look at how much it’s going to cost someone to get into the ground. One thing that we have always received as an England cricket team is amazing support.

“Obviously the Barmy Army are well renowned but even those who don’t associate themselves with any supporters group are just fantastic. I don’t set the prices, but I think it does need to be looked at.”

And Stuart Broad believes ticket prices will have to be cut in order to keep grounds full. “There’s a lot of competition for entertainment in London this weekend so a better judge is how it looks against South Africa in August,” he said.

“We’ve been incredibly supported in my career, and you want that to continue. I’m sure the prices will have to adjust to the cost of living and if stadiums get emptier, people [cricket administrators] will have to adjust.”