Warwickshire chief executive Neil Snowball has stressed the importance of traditional Thursday starts in maintaining the viability of Test cricket in England.

Edgbaston plays host to the 1000th Test of the men’s team when they face India on Wednesday but despite the landmark nature of the contest, and the drawing power of the opposition, there will be empty seats when the game begins.

Gloomy estimates of 10,000 unsold seats have not come to pass, with a late rally at the box office taking the expected crowd past 18,000 – around 5,500 shy of capacity.

Day two sales have been more sluggish but availability for Friday is in the hundreds and advance purchases for Saturday represent an upturn on usual expectations for a fourth day.

Snowball says aggregate sales are in line with expectations but believes regular Thursday starts are easier to market to the Test match public, a group who need to be catered for carefully as limited-overs formats continue to rise in prominence.

“The total number of tickets sold is pretty good, we’re happy with that, it’s just that with a Wednesday start it’s spread out over four days,” he said.

“We find that our customers and spectators here are creatures of habit, they come on Thursday or Friday or Saturday, they’re a day one or day two or day three person.

“If we keep messing them about with Wednesday starts or Friday starts or Saturday starts it just makes the consumer a bit confused. The key with Test cricket is a regular supply, you need a regular supply every year starting on a Thursday,

“There are people who are worried about the longer form of the game. I really hope there will be another 1000 tests, (but) we’ve got to protect Test cricket and cherish it.

“Part of that is getting the schedule right so that for people who want to come along, we make it easy for them and let them know what is going on.”

Edgbaston has the honour of hosting the first Test of next summer’s Ashes, as well as one of three Thursday starts in the series.

Lord’s and Old Trafford both host games beginning on Wednesday, though tickets are unlikely to linger long at the box office with the urn at stake.