After the County Championship was allowed to facilitate a limited crowd for the matches of this round, most of them starting on May 20, the expectations of seeing crowds in an international cricket match in England has heightened with World Test Championship closing in.
With crowds attending the Hampshire and Leicestershire Championship game at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, the same ground which is scheduled to host the WTC Final from June 18, the Hampshire County Club head Rod Bransgrove is hopeful of seeing at least 4000 people in the India- New Zealand game.
"I understand 50 per cent of the permitted crowds will be taken by the ICC for its sponsors and other stakeholders and we will be selling the rest 2000 tickets. We have already received more than double applications from the fans," Bransgrove was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz about the crowd arrangements for the inaugural edition of the Test Championship. "It is a high-interest game and there is a good demand for it," he added.
Although the ICC, ECB and BCCI have booked all corporate boxes, Bansgrove still feels that with travel restrictions in place, the county can manage to sell those tickets if the dignitaries from India are unable to make it for the Final.
"Given the travel restrictions and quarantine protocols, I am not sure how many of ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India members will come for the game. We will be happy to sell those tickets too,” he said. The veteran administrator also awaited the welcome of the Indian team to the town.
"We are waiting for the Indian team to complete their quarantine in India and arrive here. We are ready to host them," he added. This will be the first time since September 2019 that England will have crowds in the stadium during an international cricket match.