Are ticket prices for Test cricket matches too expensive?

W e’re living through tough times. The pinch is being felt. Food, goods, travel – it’s everything everywhere, all at once. And fun, too. It’s never cost this much to have a good time. Where does cricket fit into all this? At no time has it been a cheap game, either to play or to watch, and squaring this reality with making cricket “a game for all” is one of the many challenges it faces.

In a game awash with slogans – another is “you cannot be what you cannot see” – it’s almost become a cliché, beloved of well-intentioned administrators keen to demonstrate how outward-looking their thinking has become. But for all the hopeful, well-intentioned talk of “inspiring generations”, just how accessible is the game to the fullest range of people who might want to experience it? And crucially, for those who do pay for the live show, are they getting value for money?

If you’re a player – or a parent with cricket-mad kids – equipment costs will set you back, and that’s before you get to coaching sessions, net hire, match fees, club subs, and the cost of travelling to and from often far-flung fixtures. But perhaps you’re not interested in playing at all. Instead, you’re a watcher. Well, if Test cricket’s your thing and you want to watch it live on the telly you now need two subscriptions, with the most basic no-frills combined service setting you back well north of £50 a month.

Nobody disputes that TV money powers the modern game, nor that its future prosperity hinges on the next broadcast deal. But when families are choosing whether to heat their homes or fill the fridge, the extra stuff that makes life worth living are the first things to go.

And so we come to the cost of match tickets – in particular the price of watching