England’s legendary skipper lashes out at Lord’s for charging huge ticket prizes for the first Test

The first Test of the England summer between England and New Zealand is set to start from Thursday at Lord’s Cricket Ground. However, the tickets of the first day of the Test are yet to be sold out. Hundreds of tickets are still up for grabs for the first day of the Test match.

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England’s former skipper, Michael Vaughan lashed out at the authorities for charging huge prices for the tickets for the first Test when people are under a cost-of-living crisis. Notably, the tickets for adults are priced from 50 pounds ($63) up to 160 pounds ($201) and Vaughan wasn’t too pleased with that.

"It drives me bonkers when I read about ticket prices and Lord's has not sold out the first Test of the summer," Vaughan, who captained England in 51 tests, told the Telegraph news site.

"If Lord's is going to continue to charge these astronomical prices then they should be under threat from other grounds who will not charge as much.

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"You can't keep saying, 'we are Lord's, we need two Test matches a year' and then charge over 150 pounds in the holidays, during the (Queen's Platinum) Jubilee and during a cost-of-living crisis."

Vaughan highlighted the fact that England love to watch Test Cricket, however, the fans won't come to watch the game if the stadium sell tickets at a huge sum.

"We are the one country that generally sells out Test cricket," he added. "One of the reasons we are successful at selling Test cricket is because people want to watch it.

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"So, don't out-price them. Just read the room."

On the other hand, the Lord’s owners asserted that the most expensive tickets are being sold at a premium prize but it represents good value.

"With the Queen's Platinum Jubilee double bank holiday weekend also taking place, we have seen a reduction in our usual expected attendance numbers," the MCC told Reuters.

"However, sales remain strong for the opening two days of the match and across our other international fixtures this year, with our India ODI being sold out."

England will be playing the first Test under a new captain and head coach in Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum respectively.