Ashes ticket system an 'overwhelming' success

Cricket Australia is not worried about "leakage" to England supporters for the Ashes after 128,500 people registered for their priority ticket scheme. Early seats go on sale on June 1 and there have been some concerns that United Kingdom fans have abused the internet system introduced to protect grounds from being over-run by overseas visitors.

Peter Young, a Cricket Australia spokesman, said the registration method had been an "overwhelming" success, but he expected some Australian-based English supporters had slipped through the system. "The experts say there is going to be some leakage and we're not particularly worried about that," Young said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "It was designed with one simple principle in mind and that is what is the best way we can go about ensuring that as many Australian fans as possible can get in early and see their team?

"There will be some leakage but we're confident that most people buying tickets on June 1 will be the mums and dads of Australia buying for themselves and their two kids. Certainly the system we've set up seems to be popular because we've been completely overwhelmed in the rush and 128,500 people enrolling tells us ... people find it to be a user-friendly way of getting into the queue."

Supporters registering for the Australian Cricket Family, who have a two-week buffer before tickets going on general release, had to provide an Australian address and mobile number as proof of where they lived. However, Paul Roach, who told the paper at the weekend he was a co-founder of the Concerned Australian Cricket Supporters, said the English were "signing up like mad".

"Every single Pom I know, and every single Pom they know, is on the list," he said. "In calling it the Australian Cricket Family they're inferring it is a privilege and something special for Australian fans - and that's appropriate. But their checks and balances aren't stringent enough to prevent as many Poms joining as Aussies."

The registration site closed on Monday night and Young said they were "overwhelmed by the level of interest". "There was an initial rush in that first week [in February]," he told AAP. "It was pretty consistent over the next couple of months. Then in the last week or so, with the cut-off looming, we've had another rush of people signing up."

Cricket Australia expects most first-day seats to sell out on June 1 and is hoping to set a new mark for attendance at the MCG on Boxing Day. "Some people are daring to whisper that it could be a world record, which was 90,800 - Australia v West Indies at the MCG in the 1960-61 series," he said. "It depends on a lot of things. We need it to be a competitive series, but if it's half as competitive as the last one was then we'll be in good shape." The five-Test contest begins at Brisbane on November 23.