The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officially announced yesterday that tickets for next year’s ICC World Cup in Bangladesh will go on sale from January 1, 2011 at designated outlets across the country.
The decision was taken during a Local Organising Committee (LOC) meeting on Tuesday night but the board has yet to finalize the specific details of where and how, despite taking more than a month to fix a final date.
With the showcase event knocking at the door, the fans are increasingly curious about tickets. The common query is not just about when the tickets will go on sale, but how many tickets will be available for general sale, where they will be available from and how the tickets can be purchased. So far, frustratingly for many, the BCB has provided concrete answers to only one of those queries.
“We have decided only on the selling date but I can assure you that everything will be finalized before January 1,” said BCB’s chief executive officer Manzur Ahmed.
It was however learned that some BCB officials are unhappy with the delay in disseminating information about tickets. Many expressed their surprise that the local organizing committee is yet to finalize the details for such a burning issue.
“Surprisingly the LOC itself has no idea about the details and they called a meeting without any detailed plan. We can’t understand why they are dilly-dallying when the fans are desperately looking for detailed information,” a BCB official said on condition of anonymity.
“We are yet to decide about the details but hopefully we can fix everything within the next two or three days. What I can say is that tickets will be available at an ICC sponsor outlet or bank in all 64 districts. But there might be up to five or six outlets or banks designated to sell tickets in Dhaka,” said Ali Ahsan Babu, host tournament director.
He also added that the tickets for the opening ceremony will go on sale on the same day.
Babu however could not confirm whether there is any chance for the fans to purchase tickets online but he did confirm that one person will be eligible to buy a maximum of four tickets for matches.
Babu did not have a definitive answer on how many tickets would be available altogether for the general public. However, it is envisioned that fans will have to be quick to wrap up their tickets as the local organising committee (LOC) will set apart a significant number of tickets for distribution among the ICC and local dignitaries. The LOC also want to make a payback to the local high-ups who are helping them prepare for the showcase event.
As the capacity of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur is a little more than 24,000 it is a reasonable estimation that about 16,000 to 17,000 tickets will be available for general fans for each match. The number will be proportionately lower for the 16000-capacity Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.
However, for the opening ceremony in the 25000-capacity Bangabandhu National Stadium, most of the tickets will be reserved for the invitees.
Five per cent of the match tickets have already been committed to online sales from June 1 through the World Cup central organising committee. The respective boards of the three co-hosts — Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka — will sell the rest of the tickets.
Bangladesh will host eight matches in Dhaka and Chittagong including two quarterfinals besides the opening ceremony, which will be held on February 17 next year.
Besides the opening match against India to be held on February 19, Bangladesh will take on Ireland on February 25 in Dhaka, West Indies on March 4 in Dhaka, England on March 11 in Chittagong and Netherlands on March 14 in Chittagong.
The two quarterfinals will take place at Dhaka on March 23 and March 25.
BCB has already fixed the rates for the galleries.
TICKET RATES
Eastern Gallery (Category D) USD 3.00 (est. TK 210)
North Gallery (Category C) USD 6.00 (est. Tk 420)
South Gallery (Category C) USD 6.00 (est. Tk 420)
Club House (North-South) USD 10.00 (est. Tk 700)
International Gallery (North-South, Category A) USD 30.00 (est. Tk 2100)
Courtesy of The Daily Star
