The first over of the afternoon session, with Andrew Flintoff bowling to Phillip Hughes, was the most riveting of the day. Yet this and the cricket that followed for the next half an hour was enacted before rows of unattended blue seats as corporate hospitality guests were still relishing a four-course lunch and the wit of guest speakers.

It will be no different at Lord’s next week, to the chagrin of spectators in the cheaper seats.

Corporate hospitality equates to good business for cricket clubs. Of 16,000 spectators at Cardiff each day, 2,000 are being served fare including Welsh lamb and local cheeses, followed by bara brith, the fruit cake, for afternoon tea. All rather more substantial than the prawn sandwiches consumed in Manchester United’s boxes, but the effect is much the same: a deadening of the atmosphere.

Lunch was served from 12.30-2pm and an hour was allocated for tea at Cardiff yesterday. Intervals of 40 and 20 minutes were insufficient for that and listening to the likes of Alec Stewart, the former England batsman, and Pat Murphy, the BBC commentator, let alone the networking and drinking that are integral aspects of these gatherings. For cricket clubs, as with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, better to generate income than atmosphere.

A package of breakfast, lunch, tea, champagne and a seat for the first three days of this Test costs £425 per person. A Glamorgan spokesman said that the cricket could still be viewed while meals were served because the boxes face the pitch.

“Small capacities at Test grounds leads to high prices all round and everybody in effect has to pay a corporate rate,” Scyld Berry, the Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, said. “This makes it virtually impossible for the low-income supporter.”

About 10 per cent of the 30,000 seats for the Lord’s Test next week will be given over to corporate hospitality. This includes 72 boxes, with a capacity of 18 people in each, and 1,500 of the extra temporary seats.

“There is no doubt that this income is very important for MCC as it will be invested in the game or the facilities at Lord’s, such as the new floodlights and our sponsorship of the universities and Chance to shine \,” the MCC said. “We do everything to ensure food and drink are served quickly and to encourage guests to return to the cricket, but it is at their discretion how long they stay over lunch.”

England cricketers have complained in the past about the lack of atmosphere at Lord’s. Geoff Boycott, who is commentating at Cardiff, said: “A cricketer should be able to concentrate without empty seats affecting him. It would not have worried me if the Queen was arriving or a bomb was dropping — I just focused on my batting. But a full house did give me a lift.”