Lorgat promises more tickets for public in later matches

BANGALORE: At a press conference where queries on World Cup tickets (or lack of them) flew thick and fast, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat offered to play the forward defensive shot. Or rather, he was forced to.

Lorgat, however, promised a better ticketing system in the later part of the tournament. "We will follow our ballot system to release tickets for the future matches, including the semifinals and final. It is a much more fairer way and it will avoid the physical risks that we want to avoid. I'm confident it will be a better system to release tickets," stated Lorgat, while adding that a centralized system would be in place for the next edition of the quadrennial event.

Asked about the chaotic scenes at stadium counters in Bangalore a few days back, Lorgat was keen to point out the brighter face. "You got to accept that all these rush for tickets is an indication of how popular the game is. Sometime back we talked about the demise of 50-over cricket. And look what we have got? No matter what sort of capacity we provide, the truth is there won't be enough seats for the demand that is on our hand," explained Lorgat.

Joined by Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary Javagal Srinath on the dais, Lorgat replied the barrage of questions with a stoic face and sought Srinath's help on many occasions. Some questions were thrown directly at the former India pacer too, who took the opportunity to apologize both to the people who were hurt in the lathicharge and those who had to return disappointed after failing to get a ticket.

"All these tickets in one way or the other find their way to the public. The sale of tickets is in the hands of the hosts. We settle sub-agreements with them. Some commitments are made well in advance as it's concerned with our sponsors. A host has also got commitments - local organisation, clubs, BCCI etc," stated Lorgat, while adding that the ICC has a no-tolerance policy against black marketing.

Srinath took over from there, saying that the KSCA will be getting tickets from the ICC "in batches of 25-30" . "It's called option-to-buy tickets. If the sponsors reject in batches of 25 or 40, we cannot go to the box office," explained Srinath.

On ICC's letter to its president Sharad Pawar - who is also the chairman of the organizing committee - regarding the ticketing chaos, Lorgat played down the controversy, saying that it was a regular communication affair and that he was optimistic of all assistance from Pawar's office.

On the Umpire Decision Review System, Lorgat was optimistic. "We did make a bold decision to use the UDRS in the World Cup. My experience of what I have seen so far is that it is a good decision. We will discuss it at the cricket committee meeting in May and will consider all the feedback after that meeting," concluded Lorgat.

India v England: Police to flood stadium in Bangalore after ticket chaos for Cricket World Cup 2011 match

Police with batons charged supporters and three people were taken to hospital suffering from heat exhaustion and leg injuries after a crush developed as thousands of fans tried to buy the 7,000 World Cup tickets that went on general sale at 8.30am. Some fans had begun queuing 12 hours earlier as the public allocation went on general sale for the first time. The tickets were sold out within three hours, leaving thousands more disappointed and angry. Police took action when fighting broke out and several casualties were taken away on stretchers.

“They started demanding more tickets, and started trying to get in – because they thought there were more,” said Ratnakar Salunke, the stadium security officer. “But there aren’t so the police had to disperse the people forcibly. It is normal practice, anywhere in India, when people refuse to disperse. It is like that not only for a cricket match but anything – the cinema, for example.”

Security will be tight for England’s second match, on Sunday, with extra measures taken when India play. A bomb exploded outside the stadium before an Indian Premier League match last year, injuring eight people.

After the sterile atmosphere of England’s opening match against Holland, played at a near-deserted VCA Stadium in Nagpur, the players will be left in no doubt this weekend they have really arrived in India.

On Sunday roads around the ground will be closed and a 500-metre exclusion zone set up, with 800 police officers on duty inside the stadium and 1,000 outside. The allocation of tickets has been farcical with supporters angry that so few have been released on general sale because of the number taken by the state associations and sponsors. Only 4,000 are available for the final on April 2.

The scenes in Bangalore yesterday fulfilled the prediction in a letter written by the International Cricket Council’s head of legal affairs and leaked to the Indian media. David Becker warned of the “potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open”.

Tickets are issued by the state association hosting the match, which has led to multiple problems and added to suspicion over the number on public sale.

The online agency handling distribution has not received tickets from several state associations, leaving many who purchased seats empty-handed.

“We have received many complaints from fans who purchased tickets but are yet to receive them despite having paid for these tickets more than six months ago and being informed at the time that these would be couriered to them by early February,” Becker’s letter stated.

A High Court in Delhi yesterday limited the number of complimentary passes for matches held in the city to 10,000 and ordered that in future 30,000 tickets are made available for the general public.

The match against England will be India’s first of the World Cup on home soil and the level of excitement has intensified since their victory over Bangladesh in Dhaka last week.

“There is a limit to how much we can fulfil people’s expectations,” said Javagal Srinath, the secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association in Bangalore. “It is a big challenge but even our hands are tied. For a match of this stature, even if you double or triple the amount of tickets for the public, it won’t be enough. That’s the tradition in India and we expected this mad rush.”

This match was originally scheduled to take place at Eden Gardens in Kolkata but was switched to Bangalore when it became clear renovations to the stadium would not be finished in time.

There are few England fans in India with sales of tour packages slow largely because many supporters appear to have chosen to spend money on trips to Australia for the Ashes instead.

World Cup tickets: Police clash with fans outside Bangalore stadium

Chaos reigned supreme outside the Chinnaswami Stadium here today as police lathicharged thousands of disgruntled fans who had camped outside the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) office to buy tickets for Sunday's high-voltage World Cup showdown between India and England.

Police were seen hitting fans with sticks as chaos broke out among those who had been waiting outside the arena since yesterday to buy tickets from the box office.

"Mad rush is expected for any good match. A lot of people desire to watch the match. About 6,000 tickets have been sold at the gate," said Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary and former India pacer Javagal Srinath.

Only 1,000 tickets out of 45,000 -- the capacity of the stadium -- are for sale, it was learnt.

"We are still waiting for tickets to come back from the ICC and BCCI. If they come back, the only way we can give the public is through net, through Kyazoonga, the official ticketing partner for the event," Srinath said.

He said that it's always difficult to satisfy everyone's needs ahead of such high-voltage clashes.

"We are trying to cover as much as possible. But for a match of this magnitude, even if you double (the capacity) or triple, it's not enough."

The Indian Cricket Board and and the KSCA, meanwhile, have said that the stadium capacity is limited and the International Cricket Council's (ICC) demand for tickets have to be accommodated.

"The biggest challenge we are facing now is trying to meet the expectation of the people, and that's not possible. There is a limit till where we can keep people happy. Beyond that, unhappy people will always say things which we can't answer," Srinath said.

World cup tickets up for grabs through lottery system

THE RUSH for getting tickets for the final match of the ongoing ICC cricket world cup 2011 ended on a sour note when the official ticket website crashed due to heavy traffic.

The sale of world cup tickets for the final match, which was to start at 19:30 GMT on Tuesday, February 22 did not go as scheduled as the website could not handle the amount of traffic trying to visit the site. 

Due to the heavy rush of online traffic, servers could not handle the load and eventually crashed hours before the scheduled opening.

However, as per latest reports, it is being expected that tickets will now be available via a lottery system. In order to claim world cup tickets, the visitor will have to visit the website and record their names in an online ballot box on the tournament's official ticketing website. The lottery is will take place once the period for registration is complete.

The ICC world cup 2011 final will be held at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, which has a strength of accommodating 33,000 spectators. During initial bookings, 4,000 cricket world cup tickets were made available for the public out of which 1,000 world cup tickets can be purchased online and the remaining 3,000 world cup tickets are reserved for people who queue up at the stadium box offices.

The rest of the world cup tickets have been distributed amongst the clubs associated with the Mumbai Cricket Association and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

World Cup: Only 967 tickets sold on Day Two

The response of cricket lovers from the Tricity towards the first World Cup match to be played at the PCA Stadium continue to be lukewarm on the second day, with only 967 tickets being sold. The stadium has the capacity to host 27,000 spectators. Most of the tickets sold were of Rs 50 and 100. “As many as 328 people bought tickets for Rs 50, while 283 went for the ones for Rs 100. The figure includes the sale of tickets for the March 11 match between West Indies and Ireland,” said PCA spokesman Sushil Kapoor.

No World Cup final tickets sold after KyaZoonga crash

Tickets were put on sale at 0730 GMT on Monday via the International Cricket Council's (ICC) official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com, but the website buckled under the pressure of huge traffic, sparking furious complaints from fans.

"We apologise to anyone who was trying to get on but these are exceptional circumstances when 10 million people were trying to get on the website at one time," an ICC spokesman said.

"They (Kyazoonga) were working throughout the night to get it up and running and not one ticket has been sold from the quota we had."

Of the 33,000 seats at the Wankhede, around 4,000 are available to the public -- 1,000 online while another 3,000-odd will be sold later for those who queue up at stadium box offices. The rest are distributed among the ICC and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

On Tuesday morning, the website was back up but had no information as to when tickets would go back on sale.

A small message on the website trumpeted: "And we're back! All semis and finals tickets that are to go up on sale here are intact. Please stay tuned for further updates."

Fans continued to bombard the online ticket agency's Facebook page with angry comments for the second day running.

"These guys have not done squat and no update...wow..what a bunch of bufoons (sic)," Ibaad Lari posted from Pakistan.

Another enraged fan, Rishi Dave, added: "I freakin woke up in the middle of my sleep to check if the site was working or not. since me being on Australian time i also checked the website when most of you were sleeping, BUT same as before wudnt (sic) do anything...."

"You guys are lucky you can go queue at stadium ! ... i took day off to book these tickets for final and i cant get on the site !!!!" vented Sam Saleh.

The ICC said it was still trying to resolve the problems before releasing new details on when the tickets would be available.

WCup ticket sale: Two injured as Chennai stadium wall caves in

Two persons sustained "minor" injuries when a portion of a compound wall caved in at M A Chidambaram stadium here on Wednesday during sale of tickets for the 2011 ICC cricket World Cup matches on February 20, police said.

The incident occurred following a melee amongst the ticket-seekers, they said.

TNCA officials described the incident as "minor" and said ticket sales were not disrupted due to the mishap.

They said about 50 people of the nearly 3,000-odd strong crowd suddenly pushed towards the wall, resulting in a portion of it caving in.

ICC World Cup 2011 tickets: Chepauk stadium wall collapses

A wall at the Chepauk stadium in Chennai collapsed on Wednesday injuring two persons.

The sale of the tickets for World Cup had kicked off on Wednesday morning and scores of people had qued at the stadium to buy the tickets.

The incident occurred when some of the people leaned on a wall causing its collapse.

A man and woman were injured in the mishap. They were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.

They were discharged from the hospital after the treatment as they had sustained minor injuries.

Four cricket matches for the world cup will be held in the stadium.

This is the second embarrassment for India in connection with the World Cup.

Earlier, Kolkata’s Eden Garden was declared unfit to host a match between India and England. The match has been shifted to Bangalore.

How to Get Your Cricket World Cup Tickets

The Cricket World Cup is just 17 days away, but there’s still a chance to get tickets for many of the first round matches, provided you don’t mind watching some of the less fancied teams.

Unsurprisingly tickets for India’s key games have been snapped up, though the shifting of India vs. England on Feb. 27 from Kolkata’s Eden Gardens to Chinnaswamy Stadium might free up a few, since some people won’t be able to change plans and travel to Bangalore.

The only India match for which tickets are still available is the Ireland game on March 6, also in Bangalore. It’s unlikely to be a classic, but you never know, bearing in mind Ireland dumped Pakistan out of the World Cup in 2007.

If you’re looking for tickets, check on the official World Cup Web site. There is a tickets section, which takes users through to a page run by Kyazoonga.com, the official ticketing partner for the World Cup. Hopefully they’ll have an easier time handling online traffic than the Commonwealth Games ticketing partner, IRCTC, the state-run railways reservations portal, did.

A quick hunt around the site shows that there are still tickets for some exciting clashes, including South Africa vs. England in Chennai on March 6 and Australia vs. New Zealand in Nagpur on Feb. 25. Tickets for the semis (in Colombo and Mohali) and final (Mumbai) are not on sale yet, but it’s possible to sign up on the official website so you can be alerted when they become available.

India is hosting the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Tickets for matches in Sri Lanka can be bought on the official website, while Bangladesh has designated a number of City Bank and Agrani Bank branches as retail outlets.

For online purchases, local customers can use credit or debit cards, while those buying from outside India will need to use a valid international credit card. Tickets are delivered by courier, although the site FAQs don’t say whether they courier to international addresses. Tickets can also be picked up at the venue. If you’re in India already, I’d go for the courier option to avoid extra hassle at the stadium.

Fans can also buy tickets directly from the venues, though be prepared to queue and be wary of the dangers that seem to crop up whenever India hosts a major sporting event.

According to a NDTV report, a wall at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium collapsed today as hundreds of people waited in line to buy tickets. Two people were injured, the report said. For the second time in as many weeks, the World Cup preparations veered along worryingly similar lines to the mess seen in the run-up to last October’s Commonwealth Games.

So much for learning the lessons from that debacle, and all the more reason to book tickets through the relatively safer Internet route. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, forget I asked that.