'Life just isn't fair'

How can it take longer to purchase tickets to a day's cricket then it can to watch it? Cricket Australia has done extremely well to alienate the Australian public. Couldn't they have staggered the release of tickets to avoid such a debacle? I guess that is too logical. Ticketmaster isn't entirely blameless either; it is a regular occurrence for its website and phone lines to get overloaded when they sell tickets for a major event. Ben Maroney

At 9.01am I made the first of probably 100 phone calls to Ticketmaster, it was busy. At 11am I was annoyed, but not angry at the non-loading web page and busy phone line. But by 1pm, I was angry and now, at FOUR O'CLOCK, I am not one step closer to having a ticket and feel like tearing my hair out. I must say a big warm-hearted thank you to Cricket Australia for inviting me into their family. How about next year we, the fans, organise the family banquet? Surely we couldn't do any worse of a job. Morgan Gibson

I've had to give up after nearly six hours of busy signal and servers down. How on earth did other people get through? Sadly, I don't like my real family much, but my newly adopted one doesn't like me! Absolutely ridiculous, Cricket Australia. I doubt I will ever try to attend a match again thanks to you. Not just a disappointed cricket fan. Chris Wright

I don't think I've ever been as upset about anything as I have with this experience. The anticipation and excitement of having an opportunity to book in advance remained unabated until around 10am. I was ready and had done all my homework and from 9am I was consistently, non-stop, trying the phone and the internet. I think I now have RSI. After 60 minutes of `pages not available' and Ticketek's irritating message I got through ...YES! I was delighted. I could see celebrations in the street and much adulation from my wife. I eagerly put in my membership number and got through to the Venue Tix page - yes you read correctly, I had ended up in Adelaide, but of course I didn't know till my membership number had been accepted. The end result was good though - well, fairly good. I did eventually get on to the Sydney booking and I even was able to use my membership number. The only problem nothing was that nothing was left. Paul Buckingham

Every year I purchase tickets day-night ODI in Sydney and the event is used as a family reunion. This year I was again "hanging-out" to purchase tickets. Can you imagine my surprise and disappointment to find out about the new "cricket family" system and not being able to join and take advantage of this system because I missed the deadline. The deadline I didn't know about. Cricket Australia has alienated me and others like me. I do attend other first-class cricket matches during the course of the season as well. Maybe I should organise my annual family event at the Adidas International tennis event in Sydney. It's hard to remain loyal to cricket when you've been slapped in the face. Michael Langley

After waiting so long and being sold out within hours, I won't be watching cricket anymore. If that's the best the administration can do they don't deserve Australian supporters. Ken Mangraviti

Why did we bother registering if we can't get tickets for the Ashes? I will naturally look towards the ODIs, but it's the Ashes that we all want to see. I am going to keep trying, but I am going to be spitting chips if I don't get two tickets for my wife and I to go together. Steve Bray

It's the greatest failure in Australian cricket history. I gave up after our hours of trying to get onto the website to purchase tickets. It's easier to fly to England and wait for the next series there than it is to get any tickets here. I'd saved my work leave and fully intended travelling interstate to all the test matches. But its impossible to get tickets. Ian Kenyon

I will be extremely annoyed if on the second of January I sit down on my lounge chair to watch the game and see the Barmy Army watching the game live at the SCG. I guess time will tell. Glen Gallagher

Obviously there were a lot of sickies today as getting tickets are impossible. Mind you I did get through once only to find there were no tickets on that day - then the next, then the next. Obviously I was doing something wrong else there is some unfair advantage somewhere. David Flint

I skipped my second last day of university, when I should've been studying for final exams, to sit in front of a computer with a phone in my hand all day. After hours of an engaged phone, "Ticketmaster busy" error screen and even my mum making a last minute ditch to go to an actual Ticketmaster store, I was greeted by an "Allocation exhausted" message. My mates have gone to every opening day of the Gabba Test since we could legally drink. This year was going to be our first five-day experience. I am annoyed. They've been touting this for months and constantly reminding us to get in early. You think they would've been ready for the response they we're boasting about. Allan Allport

I called Ticketmaster at 8:58am exactly to see if the lines had opened up early, but they were shut. I rang back three minutes later and it was engaged, and I heard nothing but that engaged signal for the rest of the day. Somehow, with two computers operating at a furious pace pressing refresh every five seconds, we were able to, in the space of six hours, book the tickets that myself and my group required for this summer's action. Strangely enough, I encountered no problems booking tickets for the Adelaide and Sydney Tests. However, Ticketmaster were a disgrace. I would sometimes stand with the phone to my ear and press on, redial, end, on, redial, end for twenty minutes or half an hour at a time without a break at all, and all I would hear is the engaged signal. My arms started to cramp! Not happy Cricket Australia, or Ticketmaster. David Gallichio

Folks, Ticketmaster have dropped the ball. Absolutely useless. I have missed hours of work today attemping to buy Melbourne test tickets and I haven't even got close. They knew exactly how many people were going to apply and they didn't take any steps to ensure good service. How are we meant to support our country when our own ticketing companies obviously don't want us to be there? They should lose their contract for this debacle. Dan McMahon

After reading the stories from other not so lucky buyers, I consider myself fortunate to have managed to get tickets to all five days of the Adelaide Test. I too started at 9am and by virtue of a work phone conference was able to keep clicking till about 11:30am, when I was finally able to get in and purchase day five. Not so lucky were my friends in Sydney who didn't manage to get a single ticket for their annual day at the Sydney test. I've suggested to them that they come to Adelaide. Peter Kelley

After patiently waiting in front of the computer screen for 9am to roll around, I was met by a sequence of "unavailable" screens. I managed to proceed through to the purchase tickets page after 30 minutes, only to have the system go down and an ultimatum of having to start again! Forty minutes further and two glorious day-one Boxing Day reserved tickets are now mine! I can assure you that they will be going nowhere near ebay! Jacqelene

From the CA web site: "The Australian Cricket Family is a new initiative from Cricket Australia that aims to reward loyal cricket fans" ... I don't think so! After wasting the day with mouse in one hand and phone in the other, I'm left wondering if CA will help me purchase one of the many Ashes tickets already listed on Ebay for $550! Some reward! Andy Chambers, former Australain Cricket Family member

You would think after the problems faced by Football Australia, who were unable to cope with demands for tickets to the Fifa World Cup, Cricket Australia would have learnt a thing or two. But no. After six hours of trying, the only page I managed to get to says that Ticketmaster's system is currently busy. If they couldn't cope with this, then perhaps a bigger company should have been put in charge of selling the tickets, because quite frankly this is just amateur stuff. Cricket Australia and the method used by their ticketing agencies amounts to nothing more than a lottery that rewards neither the loyal customer who has been turning up for years or new members who have been caught up in the post 2005-Ashes bandwagon. Life just isn't fair. Ganesh Balendra

The ACF's been a great initiative by Cricket Australia - the only two things I could suggest could have been improved is that the ticket releases for each match could have been scattered, and the limit of ten tickets per day could have been reduced to six or eight to stop scalpers. It was a great initiative in order to give more Australian fans a chance to get to the games. At the end of the day, demand exceeded supply and there was never going to be a situation where everyone could be pleased. I may be a little bias now that I have my tickets. Matt Coss

I have no problem with the system chosen to get tickets out to Australians - I think the cricket family was a good idea. But I cannot understand how CA and the ticketing agencies have not been able to cope with the demand. They knew before today that they were going to have to cope with 128,000 people accessing the system, potentially at the same time, and had plenty of time to prepare their systems to cope. I have been trying to access the system both via computer and phone for five hours and 20 minutes today without luck. I'm sure a creative lawyer out there could have a field day with this! Oh well - the best seats in the house will be at my house. Andrew Horn

When I got through to Ticketek, I was told the ACF allocation had been exhausted. However, I was also told that the majority of seats will be on sale when general public sales commence. Thus, at the SCG, some 22,000 tickets (or more) remain per day. For the fair dinkum Aussies who are desperate to catch even one day of the Ashes, and registered with the family, why haven't more tickets been allocated to us? Now we have to either jam the phone lines, crash the internet, or line up in the wee hours of the morning all over again, along with the rest of the public. I am disappointed now, but will be even more so if I miss out to someone who never bothered to register with the ACF, and just got lucky. Andrew Rutherford