Tickets go on sale for ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa
Tickets for the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 in South Africa go on sale Friday with prices ensuring great value for fans.
With tickets to watch the world's best cricketers going on sale for as little as R35 (US$4.50) and with the most expensive ticket for the final fetching just R140 (US$18), this top-class event gives the cricket-loving public of South Africa, as well as traveling supporters, the chance to follow their teams without having to dig deep in their pockets.
"The ICC is conscious of the need to provide value for money to supporters of our great sport and we feel these ticket prices are extremely reasonable,- said David Richardson, ICC General Manager - Cricket, who attended the ticket launch in Johannesburg today.
"It's not every day you get to watch the top players in the world for R35 so this presents a great opportunity for the sport-loving people of South Africa and elsewhere to see the world-s best players in action," he said.
"This is a prestigious event with just the top eight-ranked teams competing. There is more prize money at stake than ever before, ticket prices have been kept low and yet we are staging the matches at two world-class venues. All this adds up to what we expect to be a fascinating event and a great cricketing spectacle."
The tickets go on sale at 0900 tomorrow (SA time) and can be purchased primarily through the event website at www.iccevents.yahoo.com. Fans can also book tickets through Computicket by telephone on +2783 915 8000 or by dropping in to any one of Computicket's offices at hundreds of locations around South Africa. Tickets, including those for the grass banks, can also be purchased directly from the two stadiums at The Wanderers (Tel: +2711 340 1509) and Centurion (Tel: +2712 663 1005 extn 7).
Ticket sales will be held in three phases. Phase one begins tomorrow (24 July) and includes all matches in the tournament up to 26 September. Phase two begins on 17 August and includes all matches up to 30 September and phase three begins on 21 September and involves tickets for the two semi-finals and the final.
Mr Richardson added: "This short, exciting event, with its new format involving only the top eight-ranked sides in the world in nation-versus-nation action, should be a fantastic spectacle to follow on from the others that have already taken place in the ICC's centenary year.
"I think that given the quality of competition and the low prices, ICC Champions Trophy rivals any other major sporting event taking place this year in terms of entertainment value.
"Thanks to our commercial and broadcast agreements the ICC Champions Trophy generates significant funds for our members which allow them to grow the game in their own constituencies, and that gives it additional value beyond the prestige of the title itself."
For the first time the ICC CT will feature only the top eight sides in the world in the only global multi-team 50-over-a-side tournament between the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and the next edition of that event, in the Asian sub-continent in two years' time.
Those teams - Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, hosts South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies - have been divided into two pools of four, with the top two from each pool progressing to the semi-finals stage.
The action begins on Tuesday 22 September with hosts South Africa in action against Sri Lanka in a day-night encounter at Centurion (the location for the women's world cup final of 2005) and it will end with a day-night final at the same venue on Monday 5 October.
Holder Australia begins the defence of its ICC CT crown against the West Indies in a repeat of the 2006 final.
That match will take place as a day game at The Wanderers, Johannesburg on Saturday 26 September and is part of a blockbuster day of action as, later on, India and Pakistan will go head-to-head in a day-night encounter at Centurion.
The ICC Champions Trophy began life as the ICC Knock-Out in 1998 and was played every two years through to 2006, changing its name for the 2002 edition.
The sides to have won the event are South Africa (in Bangladesh, 1998), New Zealand (Kenya, 2000), India and Sri Lanka (joint winners after the final was washed out in Sri Lanka, 2002), the West Indies (England, 2004) and Australia (India, 2006).
More details of tickets and the ICC Champions Trophy can be found at www.icc-cricket.com. For details on how to purchase tickets go to www.iccevents.yahoo.com.