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| May 17, 2006 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1427 |
Aussies hope to break record with Ashes attendance
SYDNEY, May 16: Australian cricket officials on Tuesday said that the demand for tickets to the Ashes series against England was unprecedented and could see the world record for attendance at a Test match broken.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said interest in watching England defend the coveted Ashes trophy they won for the first time in 16 years last September was growing steadily.
“It just keeps building, not a day goes by where we aren't surprised at an enquiry we get from somewhere we've never seen before,” he told reporters.
“If we went back 12 months ago, we would never imagine that we'd be sitting here today talking on such scale about this series.
“This is going to be a huge summer, undoubtedly the biggest summer that Australian cricket has ever seen... this will be unprecedented.”
Sutherland said the world record for crowd attendance for a Test could be set at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
“At the MCG, we are hopeful that we may be able to break the world record for the biggest crowd at a day of Test cricket, on Boxing Day,” he said.
The MCG already holds the record for the largest crowd at a Test match, seeing 90,800 people come through the turnstyles on day two of an Australia-West Indies match during the 1960-61 series.
Sutherland, who has promised Australian fans will get precedence for tickets over England's Barmy Army, was unapologetic that some England fans might be frustrated at the ticketing process.
The 105,000 Australians who have registered with Cricket Australia will have priority access for tickets from June 1 to 5 before all remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public from June 19.
“What we've sought to do here is to create a priority opportunity for Australian cricket fans,” Sutherland said.
“We're still confident there will be tickets available, perhaps on later days or what have you, for England cricket fans. There were some set aside up front for tour groups.
“There might be some frustration there at that end, but our priority is with the Australian cricket fan,”
The cost for tickets for the five-Test series beginning November will range from 25 dollars (19 US) for general admission at the Gabba to 140 dollars (107 US) for premium seats at the MCG.-—AFP
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