Bangalore: Left red-faced after World Cup ticket fiasco, the ICC on Saturday announced the process of public ballot system which will be used for selling tickets for the semi-finals and the final of the quadrennial mega-event.
The ICC was left embarrassed when the ticketing website kyazoonga.com, which was initially roped in to distribute tickets for the finals, crashed on February 21 because of overload.
To set things in order, ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat on Saturday said that there will be a public ballot system, similar to the one used in global sporting events for the sale of tickets of the semifinals in Colombo and Mohali on March 29 and 30 respectively and final to be held in Mumbai on April 2.
"It was most unfortunate and no blame should be directed at Kyazoonga, the ICC's official ticketing partner, as no one could have anticipated that tens of millions people would be trying to access the site an hour before it went live. In truth, Kyazoonga have been an innocent third party in all the issues we have had with ticketing," Lorgat said.
"In conjunction with the hosts, we have now agreed that a ballot system is the best means of releasing any available tickets for the semis and final. The high demand clearly proves the massive attraction of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and format of 50 overs cricket," he added.
The ballot process will start on February 28 and the fans will need to fill and submit the Public Ballot application form at http://cwc2011ballot.kyazoonga.com [1] within March 6.
A ticket limit of two tickets per applicant will be applied and only one application per person will be accepted. In case more than one application is submitted, it will be cancelled by Kyazoonga.
A Ballot Confirmation Number will be generated once the application is submitted and no up-front payment will be required at this stage. A draw will be conducted by computer on March 10 and successful applicants will be informed by email the next day.
Successful applicants will be able to pay for their tickets through Kyazoonga's secure payment processing website using credit card/debit card/net-banking.
After successful payment completion, fans will receive a confirmation page and email. Tickets will be distributed from the third week of March 2011.
Meanwhile, Lorgat also reflected on the fact that two contractors had been arrested in Sri Lanka for selling tickets in the black market.
"We will support and encourage the actions of Sri Lanka Cricket in having such persons arrested for black market selling. It must serve as a warning that we will not hesitate to take action against anyone who abuses the system and sells tickets illegally," he said.
Links:
[1] http://cwc2011ballot.kyazoonga.com