One Day Cup Final Tickets: Venue, Prices & Buying Guide

The short version of this one day cup final tickets guide: the Metro Bank One Day Cup final is played at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, tickets go on sale through Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club rather than through the ECB, members get first refusal before a general on-sale, and adult admission starts at around £28 with under-16s at a flat £5 anywhere in the ground. The 2026 final is scheduled for Sunday 20 September at Trent Bridge, the sixth season in a row that Nottinghamshire have staged the climax of the county 50-over competition. Prices and on-sale windows change every season, so treat the figures below as the 2026 pattern and confirm the current numbers with the Notts ticket office before you buy.

That is the answer. What follows is the detail — the sale phases, what each part of the ground is actually like on final day, how the knockout rounds feed into it, and the specific ways people get stung buying county cricket tickets second-hand.

Where the One Day Cup final is played

Trent Bridge, West Bridgford, Nottingham. The ground sits on the south bank of the River Trent, a few minutes' walk from the City Ground and about twenty-five minutes on foot from Nottingham railway station across Trent Bridge itself. It holds roughly 17,000, which makes it comfortably the largest venue used at any stage of the competition and gives the final a proper occasion feel that a county outground cannot.

The final has not always lived here. For decades the 50-over final was the great Lord's day out — the Gillette Cup, the NatWest Trophy, coaches leaving Taunton or Scarborough at four in the morning. The competition's move away from Lord's, and the scheduling of the group stage opposite The Hundred, changed the character of the tournament entirely. The One-Day Cup guide to England's 50-over competition sets out how that happened and why the tournament ended up where it is; this page is only concerned with getting you through the gate.

How the tournament reaches the final

Understanding the shape of the season helps you judge when to buy. All eighteen first-class counties play, split into two groups of nine, each county playing the other eight in its group once. In 2026 the group stage ran from 21 July to 11 August, quarter-finals were scheduled for 14 August and semi-finals for 16 August, with the final held back to 20 September — a long gap, dictated by The Hundred occupying the middle of the calendar.

Four quarter-finals means eight qualifiers, so four counties advance from each group. Group matches are worth four points for a win and two for a tie or a no result, with net run rate separating sides who finish level. A group game needs a minimum of ten overs bowled to the side batting second to constitute a match; in the knockouts that minimum rises to twenty, and the play-offs, semi-finals and final all carry a reserve day. If the final cannot be constituted even on the reserve day, the trophy is shared.

The practical consequence for ticket buyers: the two finalists are known roughly five weeks out, and the ground goes on general sale well before that, so most people buy neutral and then decide whether they care. Confirm the exact structure for the current season with the ECB, since the knockout shape has been altered more than once in recent years.

Ticket prices and sale phases

The 2026 final went on sale to Nottinghamshire members first, with general sale opening at 4pm on the same day in late July. That is the normal shape: a members' window of anything from a few hours to a few days, then everyone else.

Category	2026 price	Notes
Nottinghamshire member	from £26	Includes padded seating in front of the Pavilion
Adult, non-member	from £28	Priced from; better-located blocks cost more
Under 16	£5	Flat rate in all locations around the ground
Hospitality	on application	Sold directly by the club, not through general sale

Two things are worth pulling out of that table. First, the £5 under-16 price applies anywhere in the ground, which makes the final one of the cheapest days out in English sport for a family — a parent and two children in decent seats for under £40. Second, "from £28" is doing real work. The cheapest adult tickets are in the outer blocks; if you want to sit square of the wicket or in the shade, expect to pay more.

Buy direct from Nottinghamshire CCC's ticketing site, or by telephone through the Notts ticket office on 0115 899 0300. The club is the only primary seller. There is no ECB box office for this fixture.

Choosing where to sit at Trent Bridge

Trent Bridge is an unusually easy ground to sit in, because almost every seat faces the middle from a sensible angle. Still, some choices are better than others.

Behind the bowler's arm. The Radcliffe Road Stand at one end and the Fox Road Stand at the other give you the classic television angle, which is the best place to read line and length and to watch a spinner's flight. Radcliffe Road is the taller of the two and gets you above the sightscreen.

The Pavilion end. The Victorian pavilion is one of the finest buildings in county cricket, and the padded seating in front of it is where the members' allocation goes. Non-members can usually buy in the neighbouring blocks. It faces roughly west, so it is a warm afternoon spot in September.

Square of the wicket. The Hound Road and Parr stands give you a side-on view. Better for judging a batter's footwork, worse for judging swing.

Shade and weather. A 20 September final in Nottingham can be twenty degrees and cloudless or it can be ten degrees with a wind coming down the Trent. Play starts at 11am and can run until well after 6.30pm with the floodlights on. Bring layers, bring a waterproof, and if the forecast is poor, favour a covered upper tier over a front-row seat in the open.

Accessibility and family tickets

Nottinghamshire operates the usual county arrangements: wheelchair positions in designated areas of the ground, a free ticket for a personal assistant or carer accompanying a wheelchair user, and accessible toilets fitted to the National Key Scheme. Accessible tickets are not sold through the normal online basket — you book them through the ticket office by phone or email, and you may be asked for evidence of eligibility such as a PIP award letter or Access Card. Blue Badge parking at Trent Bridge is limited and must be arranged in advance.

For families, the £5 junior price is the headline, but check whether the club is running a designated family area for the final. Counties usually put one somewhere with a lower drinking tolerance and a shorter walk to the toilets, which matters far more with a six-year-old than the exact viewing angle does.

Getting to Trent Bridge on final day

Nottingham railway station is the arrival point for almost everyone travelling in. It is a walk of about twenty-five minutes: out of the station, south over Trent Bridge, and the ground is immediately on your left on Bridgford Road. The NET tram stops at the station and at Nottingham Station's interchange, and local buses run down London Road towards West Bridgford. Driving is possible but unrewarding — residential streets around West Bridgford operate match-day restrictions, and the club's own car parking is limited and pre-booked. If there is football at the City Ground on the same day, allow considerably more time for everything.

Buying safely: resale, touts and the obvious traps

County cricket does not attract the industrial-scale touting that football or a Lord's Ashes Test does, but a final is a final and there is always someone selling.

• Buy from Nottinghamshire CCC first. Primary sale is the only route where the ticket is guaranteed and the price is the price.
• If it has sold out, use an official resale platform. Counties partner with face-value exchanges — Twickets has carried Trent Bridge listings — where tickets are resold at or near the original price and are reissued in the buyer's name. That reissue is the point. A photographed barcode is not a ticket.
• Never buy a screenshot. A barcode can be sent to twenty people. The first person through the gate gets in; everyone else is turned away, and the club has no obligation to help.
• Be sceptical of "members' tickets". Concessionary and member-priced tickets are non-transferable. Turning up with one and no membership card is a wasted journey.
• Pay by credit card where you can. Section 75 protection on purchases over £100 is worth having, and a bank transfer to a stranger recovers nothing.
• Watch the social media listings. Every August, accounts appear offering blocks of seats for a final that has not yet had its finalists decided. Treat urgency as a warning sign, not an incentive.

If you miss out entirely, the semi-finals are staged at the qualifying counties' own grounds and cost a fraction of the final. They are frequently the better cricket.

What the day is actually like

An 11am start, a fifty-over innings, a lunch or innings break, a second innings finishing in the late afternoon or evening. Two new balls are used in alternate overs for the first 34 overs, after which the fielding side picks one to finish with, so the ball is genuinely hard and new at both ends early on — the first hour is the most watchable passage of the day. Powerplay one, with only two fielders outside the ring, covers overs one to ten. If you want the mechanics, the county one-day rules explainer has the lot.

The crowd is a county crowd, not a Blast crowd. There is drinking, but there is also a lot of listening. The atmosphere sits somewhere between a County Championship day and a T20 Blast night, and if you have only ever been to The Hundred, the relative quiet takes some adjusting to. It is also, for a great many of the players involved, the biggest day of their careers — most of the England squad are elsewhere in September, and a domestic final is where the structure of English domestic cricket delivers its one unambiguous piece of drama.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the One Day Cup final played in 2026?

Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Sunday 20 September 2026. Nottinghamshire have staged the final for six consecutive seasons. The venue is confirmed season by season, so check with the ECB or Notts CCC for future years.

How much are One Day Cup final tickets?

In 2026, adult tickets started at £28, Nottinghamshire members' seats from £26, and under-16s paid £5 anywhere in the ground. Prices vary by block and rise for the better-placed seating.

When do One Day Cup final tickets go on sale?

Members first, usually in late July once the knockout dates are fixed, with general sale following within hours or days. Sign up to the Nottinghamshire mailing list if you want the on-sale alert.

Can I buy One Day Cup final tickets on the day?

Usually yes, unless the finalists have both sold their allocations. The final rarely sells out entirely, but the best blocks go early and gate queues on a Sunday morning are long. Buying in advance is always cheaper in time if not in money.

Are there family tickets for the One Day Cup final?

The flat £5 under-16 admission functions as the family deal. There is no separate family bundle in most seasons; confirm with the club, which sometimes designates a family stand for the fixture.

What happens if the final is rained off?

A reserve day is allocated. If neither day allows a minimum of twenty overs to the side batting second, the trophy is shared. Ticket-holder refund and carry-over terms are set by Nottinghamshire CCC, so read the conditions of sale before you book non-refundable travel.

Compare the buying experience with the rest of the summer through the England cricket hub, the guide to English cricket grounds, and — if you would rather watch than travel — how to watch county cricket in the UK.