Second chance for Ashes tickets

More tickets for the 2006/07 Ashes series will be made available to select Australian cricket supporters next month as part of Cricket Australia’s (CA) resale of over 34,000 seats.

Ashes ticket sales are on again

Members of the Australian Cricket Family (ACF), a scheme devised by CA to prevent English fans from buying up the majority of tickets, will be able to purchase a limit of two tickets each as part of the resale.

 

Most of the newly available tickets have been returned by stakeholders such as the England and Wales Cricket Board, sponsors, broadcasters and the Australian state bodies, however between 200 and 300 have become available again after touts had been caught trying to resell the tickets through unauthorised means.

 

“Some are from scalpers caught as part of our investigation into secondary market activity, it’s a small percentage of the total,” Adam Vincenzini, CA spokesman, told Reuters.

 

Vincenzini added that the ACF’s 125,000 members would receive details of the sale of extra tickets via email on Thursday, and it was expected they would sell out in a matter of hours when they are resold from November 1.

 

Approximately 17,700 new tickets will be available for day four of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, along with more than 3,000 extra seats for the fifth, and possibly decisive, Test in Sydney.

 

“The Australian Cricket Family ensures members have the best opportunity to see the Australian cricket team in action and this second chance offer is part of our on-going commitment to them,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement.

 

The reissue will also see 1,000 tickets become available for the only Twenty/20 match scheduled between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 9, while up to 1,500 seats will also be on sale for each of the first four days of the first Test in Brisbane to open the series on November 23.

 

Tickets for England’s tour were snapped up at an unprecedented rate of seven per second when ACF members were given first choice in June, with the remaining seats selling out in minutes when sales opened to the general public two weeks later.

Source: Reuters