Day four of England’s Test match at Lord’s this week is likely to be played in front of swathes of empty seats as only 7,000 tickets have been sold – and some 6,000 remain available for the first three days.

Members are likely to boost the day-four crowd to close to 12,000, but Lord’s could be less than half full on Sunday for the second Test against Sri Lanka.

MCC will hope for a thrilling first day that will help drive sales for the weekend towards the 31,180 capacity figure, but selling tickets for matches that do not involve India or Australia is proving harder each year.

Thousands of tickets priced £115-£140 for adults and £15-£40 for concessions are available for each of the first three days, but it is possible crowds could end up close to capacity when walk-up sales are taken into account.

The swift conclusion to last month’s West Indies Test, which ended before lunch on day three, has been partly blamed for the poor tickets sales on day four. Also the late staging of the Lord’s Test at the end of August – only one other at the ground has started later – and the school holidays ending on Monday are partly to blame, as is England’s positive style of play, which is making it less likely games will stretch long into day four. Lord’s also has to sell two Tests each summer.