At the end of his innings, Mendis enquired about the state of the fan to other members sitting in the area as he returned to the pavilion.
Going into the Test match, the second at Lord’s this summer, there were concerns about attendance with only around 7,000 tickets sold to the general public for day four.
A similar situation is thought to be developing at the Oval for the third Test too, with tickets for days one to three almost all snapped up but day four proving hard to sell.
There were lots of empty seats for the first Test at Old Trafford last week, despite the ground reducing capacity from the Ashes last year with a smaller party stand.
An MCC spokesperson said: “Across the first three days of the Test match against Sri Lanka, we’re delighted that Lord’s will be near to capacity, closely matching the sell-out against West Indies in July. The sales throughout the summer of 2024 have been the best outside an Ashes year.
“Day four has been slower, likely in part to England’s dominant performance here earlier this summer and the end of the school holidays but we continue to encourage people to come to day four, including Under-16 tickets from £15.”
