England stand-in captain Ollie Pope said he had been surprised by the meagre attendance at Lord’s on Sunday as his side wrapped up a convincing series victory over Sri Lanka.
While the opening three days of the match saw the ground close to its 31,000 capacity, only some 9,000 spectators were present as England completed a 190-run win after tea on the fourth day of the second Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match contest.
Large crowds for Tests have long been taken for granted at Lord’s, which styles itself as the ‘Home of Cricket’.
The cost of tickets may have been an issue, however, with the cheapest price for adults on Sunday morning starting at £95 ($125) — although Under-16s were admitted for £15.
England’s encounter with the West Indies at Lord’s in July, part of a 3-0 whitewash of the Caribbean side, was all over inside three days and that may have had an impact on advance fourth-day sales as well.
The lack of spectators was certainly noticed by Pope.
“It was kind of weird,” he said. “I think a few of us have been strolling in each day and it was just like ‘jeez, it seems quiet today’. I’m not sure if people expected the game to be done by day four or not.”
– ‘Smashed it’ –
On the field, Gus Atkinson extended his Lord’s love affair with a five-wicket haul on Sunday after the fast bowler scored his maiden first-class hundred in England’s first innings,
The 26-year-old also took 12 wickets on his Test debut, against the West Indies at Lord’s in July.
“He’s smashed it so far in his Test career,” said Pope of Surrey team-mate Atkinson. “I’m sure he’s just going to keep developing and get better and better as a Test bowler.”
Joe Root’s twin hundreds in this match meant he set a new England record of 34 centuries in a Test career, but Pope has yet to reach 20 in four innings since taking charge this series in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes. .
“I’m not going to put down my average shots to the fact that I was captain this week,” said Pope ahead of a third Test at his Oval home ground starting Friday.
Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, who made one of three fifties for the tourists on Sunday along with Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne, admitted he had erred in opting to field first after winning the toss.
De Silva’s decision was compounded by Sri Lanka only managing 196 in reply to England’s first-innings 427.
“We need to do well in the first innings — a minimum of 320 is a must,” he said.
But with England 216-6 in their first innings, Sri Lanka were in the game only for Root and Atkinson to regain the initiative for the hosts.
“Once the ball had got soft, Joe Root smartly started rotating the strike and put the loose ball away to the boundary,” said De Silva. “We lost the grip of the game after that.”
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