England are facing the prospect of playing in front of thousands of empty seats again when Chester-le-Street hosts the Second Test against West Indies.

Only 20,000 tickets have been sold for the five days of the match, which starts on Thursday, even though Durham's Riverside ground has a 17,000‑capacity for internationals.

Last week's First Test at Lord's also drew a poor crowd and the manner in which the woeful Windies crashed to defeat inside three days means there has been little appetite from fans for the next meeting.

The two-Test series has also been overshadowed by the hype surrounding the Ashes, when captain Andrew Strauss and his men will be trying to recapture the urn won in thrilling circumstances on these shores in 2005.

Durham chief executive David Harker said: “It has been difficult to promote the match and sell tickets for several reasons.

“It's a bad time of year, the match wasn't finalised until late, giving us little time to sell tickets, it's still the football season and there's a lot of cricket to be played.”

After the Test, the Windies will play three
one-dayers, before England host the Twenty20 World Cup, followed by the Ashes.

After the Test series with the Aussies is over there is still a one‑day series against the tourists, the last match of which is on 20 September back in Durham.

The poor ticket sales this week are another blow for the England and Wales Cricket Board who were forced to hand over refunds to fans who bought tickets for the final two days of the Lord's Test. Around 18,000 tickets had been sold for last Saturday.