Cricket Australia claimed a record pre-sale on Tuesday for this summer’s highly anticipated Ashes Test series, but diehard fans were left waiting in long queues and complaining of technology glitches.
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg previously said the pre-sale would be the biggest in the country “since Taylor Swift was here”.
He was right. More than 220,000 tickets were sold on the opening day of pre-sale – obliterating the 2017/18 pre-sale record of 111,741 tickets.
But in scenes reminiscent of Swift’s Eras Tour ticketing chaos, cricket fans took to social media to complain about being stuck in the virtual lounge for more than an hour.
Fans also said they were close to purchasing when they were booted from the page, forcing them to rejoin the queue, while some said their priority codes did not work.
Many fans vented their frustrations on Cricket Australia’s social media pages.
“Absolutely broken-hearted,” one fan wrote on Instagram. “Every time I select tickets, the site times out or freezes up.”
A Ticketek spokesperson said the demand for Cricket Australia’s Summer of Cricket sold at an unprecedented rate “all without issue”.
“This was the biggest day of sales in history for Cricket Australia,” the statement said. “We recognise that when we have high-demand events with limited inventory, that some fans will miss out and will be disappointed.
“We encourage all customers not to use multiple browsers when trying to access tickets. Our systems are designed to prevent and block access from bots, and customers attempting to access the site with multiple browsers may be flagged by our bot prevention service.”
Ticketek encouraged fans to make sure their account and payment details were up-to-date and reminded them to log in 15 minutes before the sale to “ensure you have the best chance to secure tickets”.
They also advised fans to not log on from a VPN whilst trying to purchase tickets, as their security measures may confuse this with BOT activity.
Across five Tests last summer, 837,879 fans watched Australia take on India – the highest total for any non-Ashes Test series in Australian history. The all-time attendance record for a Test series on home soil stands at 946,750, set during the 1936-37 Ashes when Bradman was Australia’s rock at the top of the order.
Australia will host England in five men’s Ashes Tests this summer, starting with a blockbuster opener in Perth on November 21, followed by matches in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
Cricket Australia’s International summer of cricket pre-sale runs June 3-13. Fans can still sign up for pre-sale access during this period, visit cricket.com.au/tickets for more information.
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