Australians angry at Ashes ticket melt down

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Well, the dust has settled and after the first day and a half that Ashes tickets were available, Cricket Australia has sold 272,000 tickets. Extraordinarily, the first 3 days for all Tests except Melbourne are sold out already. The MCG should be filled within a day or two at this rate. What pleases me is all the Tests are sold out rather than the ODI's - as it should be. The last Ashes series demonstrated that Test cricket at its best far outstrips ODI cricket in it's drama, tension and excitement. Imagine your body being in a state of tension for 5 straight days, then repeat over a 5 Test series. That's what cricket is all about!

What also amazes is that these tickets weren't available to the general public but only the select "Australian Cricket Family". You had to have signed up months ago, providing evidence (albeit flimsy) of Australian residency. Factor in that many were not able to buy tickets yesterday so sales should rage on unabated over the following weeks. James Sutherland, head of Cricket Australia, comments:

"We knew Australians would be straining at the leash to purchase tickets, but even the experts have been surprised at the demand we're experiencing. Agencies are telling us that this is unprecedented in the history of major event ticket sales in Australia."

Right now, I'm picturing James Sutherland writhing on a bed of money, Demi Moore style. So is it a big success? Not in the sense that many Australians are angry at the ticket vendors' inability to cope with the demand. Read Cricinfo's long list of angry complaints from disappointed Australians. I'm suddenly feeling fortunate that I got my tickets after only 3 hours.

The irony is the problem could have been alleviated so easily. Ticketmaster are selling tickets to 4 venues: the MCG, Gabba, WACA and Bellerive Oval. Just the mere act of staggering the release dates of each venue would've reduced the demand on Ticketmaster by 75% (more or less). That probably would've meant the website wouldn't have shut down at all and increased your chances of getting through on the phone by 400%. Still, this kind of demand is unprecedented - dwarfing even the Olympics so I'm not too angry at Cricket Australia. Of course, that's because I got what I wanted - I'm still elated that I'm going to Day 1 of the 1st Test. But this has never happened before in Australia, not to this extent. In previous seasons, Cricket Australia have had to beg, bow and scrape to get the public to attend a Test match. And understandably considering the lack of competitive cricket on our shores. When the West Indies made it to a 5th day last summer, it was almost cause for a ticker tape parade. Now suddenly there's not only a team that can beat us, it's the old foe. Justin Langer said losing the Ashes was good for Australian cricket and while that's a bitter pill to swallow, I have to concede my interest in this series is a hundred fold what it would've been if we'd won in England.

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Posted by JC on Fri 2 Jun

2 comments

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