Ticket sales for next year’s ICC Women’s World Cup Final have already beaten previous attendance records, eight months ahead of the showpiece match at Lord’s, reflecting the growing popularity of the women’s game.

So far over 5,500 people have grabbed the opportunity to watch some of the world’s best cricketers battle it out at Lord’s through the pre-sale and week-long ticket ballot which took place during October, the first time this has taken place for the women’s tournament. This already surpasses the attendance figures for all previous ICC Women’s World Cup Finals, including the 1993 Lord’s Final, putting it on track for a record breaking tournament. 

ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson, said: “The popularity of women’s cricket has been increasing at a fast pace and the enthusiasm to buy tickets for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 is testimony to that. I’m confident we will have a highly competitive tournament as the best teams in the world go head to head to win the biggest prize in the sport."

The remaining tickets for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 Final, which will be played at Lord’s on Sunday 23 July, will go on general sale via www.icc-cricket.com/tickets on at 10am on 28 November. Ticket prices start at £20 for adults, £10 for students (aged between 17 and 23-years-old) and £5 for under-16s. Any children that attend will be given a free bat and ball. Fans can apply for up to six tickets

Tickets for the two Semi-Finals, which will be played at The County Ground, Bristol on Tuesday 18 July and The County Ground, Derby on Thursday 20 July, will also go on sale for the first time via www.icc-cricket.com/tickets. Ticket prices start at £15 for adults, £5 for students (aged between 17 and 23-years-old) and £2 for under 16s. Fans can apply for up to 10 tickets. 

Chair of the ICC Women’s Committee, Clare Connor, said: “We are pleased with the initial response we have had from fans wanting to be part of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 Final. With ticket sales already higher than attendances for previous Finals, this reflects the growth of the women’s game and there is clearly a strong appetite for watching the world’s best players in action and we still have several months to build on this. As tickets for the Semi-Finals go on sale next week and group matches early next year, I have no doubt that fans will get behind the teams and to help us make this a record breaking tournament.”

Australia won the ICC Women’s Championship even before its last leg of matches against South Africa with an unassailable 30 points. Australia eventually finished with 36 points and was followed by England (29), New Zealand (26) and West Indies (22) in that order.

The bottom four sides from the ICC Women’s Championship– India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – will need to qualify through the 10-team ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2017 in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo from 7-21 February. The other teams in the Colombo tournament will be regional qualifiers Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Scotland and Zimbabwe.

Four teams from the Colombo event will advance to the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.

Returning to England and Wales for the first time in over 20 years, the tournament starts on Monday 26 June and will be held across county grounds in Bristol, Derby, Leicester and Taunton. The eight teams will take part in a single-league format, with each side playing each other once, meaning each venue will host seven matches. The top four teams in the league at the end of the 28 matches will then progress to the Semi-Finals that will be played in Bristol and Derby. The full match schedule and ticket information will be announced in March once qualification has finished.