June 4, 2006
A Test of Patience
Patience. A word that is at the heart of the game of cricket. The first of the "three Ps", Patience, Partnerships and Pressure. In the context of cricket, patience is a word that I usually use when I am coaching players.
However, like many other cricket fans, I am being asked by Cricket Australia to be patient after missing out last Thursday on buying tickets to the upcoming Ashes series. There were many others who experienced similar frustration to me (I tried repeatedly but could not get past the Ticketek "busy" message on the web and their phone number was continually engaged) as widely reported on Friday.
Predictably scalpers are trying to make a killing. But one major source of frustration on Friday was that the numbers didn't add up. The media release from Cricket Australia reported that 71,000 tickets had been sold for Sydney, which included the first four days of the Test Match as well as the Twenty20 International and one dayers. Now the SCG holds over 40,000. So how many tickets had been allocated? How many were left over for the general public on 19th June?
Then I read Will Swanton's article in the paper today and the situation began to become clearer. It would seem that as a consequence of a deal between the SCG Trust and Cricket NSW, the number of tickets allocated for sale to the so-called "Australian Cricket Family" was limited to 9,800 per day of the Test (more about this at Cricinfo). This compounded Cricket Australia's ill-conceived method of selling tickets early to supposedly loyal Aussie cricket fans.
This whole fiasco is most definitely a test of patience. Now I feel doubly dudded.
Posted to Cricket by Keith Pitty