Protesters among the 500 who turned up at the club's annual general meeting held at Lord's indoor cricket school were told that there could now be no change to the system which has been introduced for selling tickets - and which has caused such a furore among members.

Roger Knight, secretary of MCC, said after the meeting: ``Understandably there were a lot of comments. In the end perhaps communication was not as good as it should have been but the committee felt this was the way they had to go.

``I am afraid this is not a negotiable item. If a club member wants to enter Lord's during the World Cup matches he must produce his membership card and his ticket for the game.''

Members will be able to get a 25 per cent discount on the price of tickets to the general public: for the final their price is £75 and for the earlier matches £45.

Seats in the pavilion and other members' areas will be numbered and allocated to the ticket holder. This was a particular concern to members who feared that the pavilion would be out of bounds to them if they did not hold one of these tickets.

They received only partial reassurance from Knight. ``They will be allowed in during the games to such pavilion areas as the Long Room and the bar - as long as safety rules are not breached. If the safety numbers are exceeded then they might not be allowed to enter.''

Knight acknowledged that MCC had had the option of not accepting the ticket conditions laid down by the England and Wales Cricket Board, who are the World Cup organisers. In that case he agreed it was possible that the games, and particularly the final, might have gone to another ground.

It was also announced that Tony Lewis, the former England and Glamorgan captain, is to be the next president of MCC, taking up his appointment at the beginning of October.

One of Lewis's first jobs will be to handle the results of a questionnaire MCC are sending to all members on the issue of women as members.

Knight said: ``We are trying to find out the concerns of those members who voted against this issue a few months ago and if possible to address them. ``